


if i told you who i am (can i call you baby?)

by Smudge



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: But I'm not sorry, F/M, Jughead is smitten, So I won't, Soulmate AU, because why not?, betty's into it, i feel like i should apologize for betty's praise kink, some jealous archie, veronica has no patience for anyone with a penis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-09-15 04:18:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 49,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16926378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smudge/pseuds/Smudge
Summary: Gasping, Jughead Jones sits up in his bed, blindly reaching for his phone, trying to silence the blaring alarm that had jolted him out of his dream. Frustrated and running a hand through his hair, he turns off his alarm, flopping back on his bed with his arms behind his head as he stares at the ceiling and exhaling slowly.He knew the possibility of the dreams would start after he turned eighteen but he’d never thought they’d be starting on the morning of his birthday.Great, he thinks,gritting his teeth,I already hate my birthday and now I’m getting prophetic dreams about my soulmate, a girl I’ve never met and may never find.Or, in other words, Jughead knows he's got a soulmate and he's going to do whatever it takes to find her and win her heart.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hellooooooo, friends! Welcome to my new soulmate au, it's uh, well, it's gonna be something and I think that counts. Mostly because I said so. 
> 
> Still not a fan of end notes on chapter 1 becoming story notes so we're gonna do this whole mess up here, okay? Okay. 
> 
> So, I owe thanks to both Indiebughead and jandjsalmon for reading this for me and lying to me about my ability to write anything. They're total dolls for it. Honestly, would totally make out with either of them if they wanted, that's the amount of love I have going on.
> 
> ALSO! For the very first part, I need to give pretty much all the credit for inspiration of the imagery to [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2LQdh42neg) right here. 
> 
> I do hope you'll drop me your thoughts since I've never done something like this before and I'm soft like that. Besos to you all and come [tumble](https://thetaoofbetty.tumblr.com/) with me if you want.

_She laughs as he spins her around their living room as long past popular songs play from the radio speakers in the dimly lit room, her sundress twirling around her knees. Her bare feet barely miss being stepped on by his boots as he laughs along with her._

_Her smile bright, hair fanning out with each spin, he pulls her into him and holds her close, kissing her cheek as she giggled into his shoulder._

_“You’re going to be late,” she whispers to him as the song ends, a slower one starting to play next._

_“Worth it,” he tells her as he runs a hand over her hair. A finger under her chin tilts her face up so he can press a kiss to her lips. In that moment, he’s convinced that no one has ever loved anyone the way he loves her, a thumb across the gold band on her ring finger reminding him that she’s really his._

_Big green eyes staring at him and he knows, intrinsically, that the words about to come out of her mouth are going to be, “I love you.”_

 

* * *

 

Gasping, Jughead Jones sits up in his bed, blindly reaching for his phone, trying to silence the blaring alarm that had jolted him out of his dream. Frustrated and running a hand through his hair, he turns off his alarm, flopping back on his bed with his arms behind his head as he stares at the ceiling and exhaling slowly.

He knew the possibility of the dreams would start after he turned eighteen but he’d never thought they’d be starting on the morning of his birthday.

 _Great,_ he thinks, gritting his teeth, _I already hate my birthday and now I’m getting prophetic dreams about my soulmate, a girl I’ve never met and may never find._

Not remembering much about her features other than blonde hair and big green eyes, the only thing he knows for sure is she’s beautiful and the sound of her laugh, even in the memory of a dream, is a light happy sound that sends his stomach swooping in anticipation. The feeling of loving her still thundering around in his brain.

Scowling as he realizes there’s no way she’s from the Southside, he holds in a groan of irritation. He would definitely remember a girl like that if he’d seen her recently. Which meant she could be anywhere, even back in Toledo where he should be with, if not his mom, at least with Jellybean. The dreams never tell you the when or where of meeting your soulmate, just glimpsed of the future you _could_ have.

Not would have. A _possible_ future.

The internet was full of stories of unrequited soulmates, one dreaming of their other half and the other never dreaming the dreams at all. Or soulmates who never find each other, always looking for the person they see behind their eyes at night. The worst, in his opinion, are the ones who find their soulmate but find their soulmate is dreaming of someone else.

He’d read everything he could find on the phenomenon of soulmates in the weeks before he’d turned eighteen, _just in case_. The feeling of dread in his gut over the last month had grown with each passing thought of what might happen.

_What if I don’t dream of anyone?_

_What if I_ **_do_** _?_

 _What if, what if, what if,_ a thousand of them circling in his mind, keeping him awake at night, keeping him anxious, the feeling of fate being a cruel mistress crawling up his spine with each tick of the clock counting down until October second.

Squeezing his eyes shut in the hopes that when he opens them the world around him will have changed he steels himself to get out of bed and face the day, soulmate dreams and birthday or not, he’s determined for today to just be another day.

By the time he manages to stumble out of his bedroom and into the shower, he’s replayed the parts of his dream he remembers at least a hundred times. Feeling the hot water hitting him in the back he thinks of the unique green of her eyes, the doll like size of them as she stared at him with love, the blonde hair that looked like silk.

 _Hitchcock blonde,_ he thinks, trying to resist temptation by turning the water colder to help control himself.

The shower had turned icy by the end of it, a dull throbbing in his head and lower abdomen keeping him in a state of agitation as he dressed for the day, wondering if he was going to start looking for his mystery girl in the face of every blonde. _Most likely,_ he laments to himself. That little part of him that had wanted to be one of the ones to get the dreams so badly is thrilled to know that there is someone out there seemingly made for him.

And the other part, the more cynical part, thinks that he’s setting himself up for disappointment. He doesn’t know who she is, where she lives, anything about her except the feeling of already wanting her so badly, that the ache of it makes his heart beat faster each time he lets himself savor a memory from his dream.

Logically he knows how ridiculous that is. To be halfway smitten with some mystery girl the universe says is meant just for him over the very _first_ prophetic dream. He wants to roll his eyes at himself for it, the anticipation of knowing she’s out there. Someone who might not let him down, someone who won’t judge or abandon him.

Someone to ease the edge of loneliness he feels for the better part of every day, especially as he looks around the trailer and knows he’s alone. His dad is gone to god knows where, his mom still back in Toledo with his baby sister, having only sent him to Riverdale to live with their dad for reasons he still doesn’t understand. If his mom thinks he can somehow make a difference in the way his dad has been living she’s going to be sorely disappointed. Taking a deep breath, he tries to think about Jellybean thriving in another state, away from the sting of parental rejection and rampant alcoholism.

Can anyone blame him for wanting a soulmate? A universe approved family _just for him?_ The small smile that comes over his face as he sits at the tiny table in the small kitchen of his trailer as he eats dry cereal for breakfast makes him want to cringe at his own ridiculousness but he can’t seem to help himself.

He wants to _meet_ her. Wants to _find_ her. Would love nothing more than to find her and make her _his._

It’s a feeling he can’t explain, he knows, just _knows,_ that if he found her, she’d be everything he’s ever wanted for himself. Groaning, he runs his hands through his hair at how much of a sap he’s become overnight.

Shaking himself out of it, he grabs his bag and puts on his ever present beanie before walking out of the door, swallowing his nerves and getting ready to be the outcast in yet another new school.

 

* * *

 

“Betty!” she hears Archie yelling as he runs up behind her, causing her to slow her steps and let him catch up. “Wait up!”

Plastering on a smile as she cocks her head to the side to look up at him to say good morning she almost winces at his eager facial expression.

“Good morning, Archie.”

Ever affable in his smile, he says, “Morning, Betty. Why’d you leave so early?”

 _To avoid this,_ she thinks, fighting the snark as she clenches her fists around the straps of her bag.

“Oh, you know, Blue and Gold stuff. Also I have that new student tour this morning too.”

“Anything interesting about this new kid?”

“What can you really tell from a transcript, Archie? It only tells you what the people who wrote it want you to know. Forsythe Pendleton Jones the Third, an average student, promising writer, and keeps to himself is all Principal Weatherbee told me,” Betty tells him with a shrug.

“Weird name,” Archie laughs.

“Okay, _Archibald,_ ” she responds with a little more sarcasm than her usual fondness.

Archie glances at her with a narrowed gaze before seemingly disregarding his thought and asking, “Are you going to ask him to join the paper if he’s a writer?”

“Depends,” she answers nonchalantly. “I’ve learned my lesson about asking anyone and everyone to join.”

“Betty,” Archie sighs, “are you going to hold that over Reggie’s head forever?”

Determined, she walks forward, staring ahead with her jaw set, remembering Reggie’s offer to help and her excitement to have more hands on deck when all he wanted was his hands on her. Or Veronica. Or any girl, really. “It’s your fault, Arch, for telling him that girls think writers are irresistible.”

“Don’t they though? That’s what I read in one of Veronica’s magazines!” he exclaims, adjusting his backpack around his shoulders. His letterman jacket and red hair sticking out in the morning sun against the green backdrop of their sleepy little town.

“Women,” she says, pausing to let out a defeated exhale, “like a lot of things, Archie. Including being treated with respect and men who respect their choices.”

Stopping, Archie tugs on the elbow of her jacket to get her to stay still. “Is this about-”

“About you telling me that you were ready to be with me? Like I’d spent all this time pining and waiting for you while you tried to break dating records in the halls of Riverdale High?” she interrupts, walking forward again, rolling her eyes at him.

“Betty, come on, I’m just saying I think we should give it a shot,” he says, big brown eyes looking at her with a crooked smile as he catches up, stopping her once more.

Steeling herself, she spins to face him fully. “Archie, I _had_ a crush on you. Past tense. I told you, you rejected me, you dated my best friend for over a year, that put you firmly in the “don’t go there” category of the girl code.”

“But Veronica dated Reggie after me and he’s my friend, how is that any different?” Archie asks, genuinely confused.

 _God save me,_ she thinks, trying to figure out a way to make him understand that just because he doesn’t see the issue doesn’t mean there _isn’t_ one.

“Arch,” she says softly, looking up at him, “you have dated pretty much every girl I know, while I watched. If I still had feelings for you don’t you think that would have been pretty hurtful for me to go through?”

Archie furrows his eyebrows. “Yeah, but you dated Trev, who’s a friend of mine, for a few months. And what about those other guys? So we dated other people, we’re both single now and I think we could be something great, Betty.”

“Let’s say we date, okay? What happens when we turn eighteen and one of us gets dreams about someone else? Or we both dream of someone else?”

“We might dream of each other, you know,” he replies with a serious face.

Betty nods at him slowly, absorbing his words as she toes the ground with one of her pink ballet flats. She knows there’s a chance it could happen. If she had to pick her soulmate, Archie Andrews would not be it, not anymore. Maybe when she was fifteen and thought herself _oh so in love_ with him she would have wanted nothing more. But now? Now she knows she wants more than to be Archie Andrews’ soulmate.

She wants passion and deep conversations about books and someone to laugh with over people watching while he whispers observations about the world into her ear. There’s no part of her that thinks that Archie can give her what she needs. What she wants.

Betty Cooper wants _more._ And she’ll be damned before she settles for less.

“Do you really think that you’re going to dream of me, Archie?” she asks him, her face earnest. “Truly?”

Smiling at her, he nods at her. “I do. Who else could it be?”

Shaking her head at him, she continues walking to the school. “Archie, if you’re so convinced, what’s wrong with waiting until we’re eighteen then?”

“Why wait?”

Betty, frustrated, throws her hands in the air, almost hitting the guy walking past her with his head down. Calling an apology to him, she just gets a wave of his hand up over his shoulder in return, not even looking back to see who almost gave him a black eye. Tightening her ponytail, she steadfastly walks across Riverdale High’s campus, trying to both get rid of Archie and get to the Blue and Gold before her new student tour when she sees Veronica waiting for her near the front doors, smiling fondly at Betty’s irritated expression and Archie’s longing face.

“Having a good morning, B?” Veronica asks, taking her arm and walking across the threshold without waiting for an answer. The tailored dress under a black wool pea coat accentuated by pearls and designer heels making her a lovely picture as they make their way to the newspaper office. Turning to Archie, Veronica smiles benignly. “Go find someone else to play with, Archiekins, this is girl time. You’re already going to make me fail the Bechdel Test before noon and that annoys me. Shoo.”

Giving Betty a beseeching look, Archie just lets his shoulders slump as he walks off in the other direction.

“That’s better,” Veronica says with a relieved sigh. “Is he still convinced you two are meant to be even though he’s been working his way through the female population like a pig looking for truffles?”

Groaning, Betty tosses her head back, staring at the ceiling for a moment before looking back to Veronica. “Yes. I have no idea why!”

Giving her a glance out of the corner of her eye, Veronica smirks. “I can think of plenty of reasons but alas for our fair Archie, that ship has sailed.”

“Sailed? It sank right next to the dock it was tied to.”

Laughing, Veronica rubs a soothing hand along Betty’s arm in commiseration. “He’s not a terrible guy but he’s not-”

“Smart. That’s the word you’re looking for,” she tells Veronica. “I gave him a list of reasons I’m not interested, most of which includes him dating every single girl I know but he’s hearing what he wants to.”

Sighing, Veronica bites her lip in thought. “Maybe you should start dating someone.”

“I shouldn’t have to for him to get my point.”

Finally reaching their destination, Betty unlocks the door to the Blue and Gold and turns big green eyes to her best friend.

Narrowing her eyes at Betty, Veronica starts backing away. “Oh no you don’t. I’m not falling for that again, Bettykins. I know you’d sell your own and probably my soul to get more people on staff with you but writing and deadlines are _not_ my thing.”

“V-” Betty starts to whine out, almost stomping a foot while sticking out her lower lip in a pout.

“I love you, Betty, but no can do. You go on and do whatever it is you do in there and I’ll see you in first period, okay?”

Lifting a shoulder in a shrug, Betty continues to unlock the door before shoving it open and turning the lights on as she twists her head to meet Veronica’s eyes. “I have that student tour during first, remember?”

“Oh, right. Well then, my sweet B, I’ll see you in third,” Veronica says, waving goodbye as she spins on her heels, walking off in the direction of her locker.

Making her way to her desk, she sits heavily in the chair, resting her head in her hands, taking a second for herself before someone else wants something from her. Remembering Archie’s pleas, she almost laughs out loud to herself.

 _As if,_ she muses. Not after being rejected and then watching him date her best friend for over a year. Veronica had been free with the details of dating Archie and Betty feels like she knows enough about him to last a lifetime.

 _Not that I wanted to know any of that,_ she muses to herself, picking up a folder and looking through it to find an article Ethel Muggs had written for her the week before. Help at the student run school newspaper had been few and far between since she convinced Principal Weatherbee to let her start it back up her sophomore year. Giving herself ten minutes before needing to head over to the administration office she starts to work on that week’s layout, trying to make the paper look both more important and interesting than it is.

Checking her phone ten minutes later, she makes a face at the papers in front of her before shrugging it off and promising herself to deal with it later, grabbing her bag and locking the door behind her as she makes her way to give the new student tour, trying to remember everything she already knew about him.

 _Forsythe Pendleton Jones, average student,_ she recalls. _So, probably not interested in academic clubs. Promising writer. Maybe he’ll want to join the Blue and Gold? Unless he’s more into fiction writing. Keeps to himself. Can’t blame him for that, sometimes all I want to do is scream until everyone shuts the hell up._

The last thought makes her laugh a bit to herself as she pushes her way through the office door, spotting the school secretary handing a tall guy wearing a denim jacket a sheet of paper before pointing to her causing him to spin around. Still smiling she’s about to stick her hand out to introduce herself when she realizes that he’s the guy she almost gave a black eye to, suddenly recognizing the oddly shaped hat on his head and the dropped suspenders she'd seen as she called out her apology.

 _Handsome,_ she notices immediately. _Dark hair and blue eyes._ And staring at her like he’s never seen a human being before.

 

* * *

 

Jughead is following the map on his phone to find Riverdale High without getting lost, his dad having not shown up to drive him even as he’d waited for a few minutes outside of the trailer to see if he’d come through.

He’s not surprised.

The town is nice, albeit small and painfully quaint looking. Houses with manicured lawns that look almost identical as he passes from the Southside to the Northside, the intensity of perfection causing him to scoff as he kicks a leaf off the sidewalk and into the street.

 _Welcome to Pleasantville, Jughead,_ he thinks, already dreading starting a new school more than he thinks he ever has before.

Taking the route the map suggests seems to be taking him on a longer path and he swears he’s going to find a shortcut if he’s going to be walking to school five days a week. There’s no use in counting on his dad to give him a ride and he doesn’t have a car of his own even if he _does_ have a license. Hands in pockets on the chilly morning, he ends up behind a redhead in a letterman jacket and a blonde with a ponytail hanging down the back of a pink coat.

 _Ugh, jocks,_ he groans internally. _But the blonde- no, don’t go there and torture yourself so early in the day. Wait until at least lunchtime to start looking at every blonde girl you can find...you know, like the idiot you are._

Resolving to not look at the girl, he walks faster and barely misses getting swatted in the face by her gesturing in the middle of the conversation she was having with the jock that doesn’t seem to know how to catch a clue. He hears her yell an apology as he makes his way in front of her, not looking back but waving her off to let her know he’s not mad.

Putting on headphones for the rest of his walk up to and through the school, he passes a girl wearing actual pearls who gives him a fair amount of side eye and he just scoffs back at her, making her raise an eyebrow at him in challenge.

 _Not yet,_ he tells himself. _Just make it through the morning and then you can start to freely judge everyone you think is judging you._

Finally finding his way to the office, he gets a locker assignment, a class schedule, a student handbook, and a look of knowing after like the secretary knows he’s going to throw the handbook into his locker and never think about it again.

“Your student guide will be here shortly, Forsythe. Her name is Betty Cooper and I think you’ll find her to be incredibly helpful,” the secretary tells him.

Trying not to be obvious about looking for a name tag or name plate on the desk since he’s already forgotten the secretary’s name he’s only half listening when he hears her mention something about a school paper.

“Sorry, what?” Jughead asks, trying to look contrite but most likely failing.

A knowing stare makes him flush as she repeats herself. “I said that Betty runs the Blue and Gold and she’ll almost certainly ask you to join if you’re-”

Interrupting, Jughead lets out a laugh at that. “Oh no, no I don’t think so.”

Shrugging, the secretary starts straightening papers on her desk. “That’s unfortunate, she could use all the help she can get.” Grabbing a paper from the top of her pile, she gives it to him as her eyes stray to somewhere over his shoulder, she points behind him and tells him, “There she is, Forsythe.”

“Jughead, please,” he groans out before turning to meet his student tour guide, a weird thing he’s never heard of in any of his previous schools.

All he sees first is green eyes he’d know anywhere and blonde hair he thinks he already knows feels like silk.

 _Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck,_ is playing on repeat in his brain in disbelief.

She’s beautiful. And smiling at him. Beautiful and smiling at _him._ Taking her in, from the tight jeans and the gray sweater with the embellished collar to the pink shoes on her feet and the matching pretty pink flush on her cheeks he thinks he might be staring but everything in his head sounds like it’s underwater as she stops smiling and starts looking confused.

“Forsythe?” his soulmate questions and he immediately recognizes the voice as the girl who almost whacked him earlier.

_Guess you should have turned around after all, you idiot._

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here we go, chapter 2 time, everyone! 
> 
> Okay, ignore this top part and read the fic, am I right? 
> 
> Unless you want to know the secret to life. Then you'll have to keep reading this note. 
> 
>  
> 
> We all knew I was lying, yeah? I can't even figure out the secret to getting enough sleep, much less the entire secret of life. But, read on, if you want to see Jughead touch a butt.

“Jughead. My name is Jughead,” he starts babbling out. “Yeah, you should, uh, you should call me Jughead. Not the other name. Jughead.”

“What?” She looks even more confused and he wants to sink into the ground but wants to get down on his knees and thank the fates above for putting this girl in front of him.

“Call me Jughead,” he chokes out, gingerly accepting the hand she’d stretched out to him right before he’d started talking nonsense, the feeling of her soft skin touching his doing things to him already.

“Jughead?”

Nodding at her, she just smiles in response, giving his hand a slight squeeze before letting it go.

“Okay. I’m Betty Cooper and your student guide. I’m going to show you around the school, help you get a feel for where you’re going, answer any of your questions, that kind of thing. Are you ready to go?”

Swallowing the new lump that has just formed in his throat he just nods once more, reaching for the door before she can, holding it open for her to pass through in front of him as he makes a half second valiant effort not to look at her ass.

 _Fuck me, it’s perfect,_ he laments silently, trying to make sure to not get caught staring. If he hears an amused snort coming from the vicinity of the secretary’s desk, making his head pop up and his eyes focus somewhere above Betty’s waist, he pretends to hear nothing as he follows Betty out into the hallway.

She stops and swivels to face him, gesturing to the papers in his hand. “Class schedule?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he says, fumbling as he hands it to her, the smile on her face becoming distracting as he remembers one similar on her face from his dream earlier that morning.

Studying it, she’s wearing a face of concentration as he takes a moment to really take her in. He knows, he just knows somewhere in the depths of his soul that she’s the _one_. Her green eyes and blonde hair feel so familiar to him already he wants to reach out and touch her and the effort it takes to continually remind himself that she’s a virtual stranger is more than he thought it would be.

“So, we have a few classes together,” she’s telling him, pointing at the schedule while he’s silently thanking everything he can think of for whatever it is he’s done to finally catch a break. “I’ll show you where they are after I show you the library and cafeteria, okay?”

“Sure,” he mumbles, trying to figure out how to talk to her without scaring her off by yelling _“You’re my soulmate, we should probably make out”_ directly into her pretty face.

Handing the paper back to him, she claps her hands once, her smile even brighter than before. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

“Uh, alright,” he stutters out, trying to compose himself.

She’s looking at him with a mix of sympathy and confusion now. “Are you nervous to start a new school?”

Clearing his throat, Jughead shakes his head. “Not really. I just had a weird morning.”

“Weird is better than bad.”

A small smirk flits across his face at her words. “That’s true, weird is definitely better than bad.”

Gesturing for him to follow her, she takes off down the hallway pointing out rooms and giving background on the history of the school and the town and he’s not listening to a single word she’s saying. The effort it’s taking to simply nod and murmur sounds that seem like he’s absorbing her words is about all he can do as he thinks about the situation he’s found himself in.

 _So either she’s not eighteen or I’m not her soulmate,_ he realizes with a pang when it occurs to him that she’s not looked at him once like she recognizes him.

Not thinking about the fact that he’s interrupting her, he blurts out, “How old are you- I mean, uh, are you a senior too?”

_Oh my god you can’t just ask someone how old they are!_

Stopping and moving to face him, she looks surprised but not offended. “I’m a senior. And I’m seventeen. Why?”

_Don’t make it weirder by asking for her birthday._

“Just wondering.”

Betty seems to accept his answer and continues onto her tour, showing him where his locker is and how to get the tricky lock to open, telling him that she’d had that locker the year before but it gets easier the more he does it. His relief at her age actually lets him relax long enough for him to pay attention to some of what she’s telling him on the second leg of the school tour.

“And this,” she says, pulling keys out of her bag, “is the Blue and Gold.”

“Blue and Gold?”

“The school newspaper. I’ve been in charge of it since my sophomore year and-” Looking at him with her head tilted to the side she gives him an almost coy smile “-I’m always looking for help if you’re interested.”

If he weren’t so enamored and amused by her trying to pitch the school newspaper to him he might have scoffed at the idea of him actually joining an extracurricular activity, but as it was he just repeated her words back at her like moronic parrot. “Looking for help?”

Big green eyes turn to him, almost pleading. “Always. I can only seem to keep a couple reporters on staff for some reason.”

“Well they do say print journalism is dead,” he tells her, leaning against one of the desks sitting in the middle of the room.

“Dormant, not dead,” she insists, her bottom lip almost sticking out in a pout.

 _Yup, I’m fucked,_ he thinks right before he throws himself at her feet. “I write. I can help, you know, if you wanted me too.”

The gleeful smile that crosses her face at his words leave with him with the impression he just got played somehow. He decides immediately he doesn’t even care, it’ll give him the chance to be near her on a regular basis —something he seems to be willing to toss all his previous social interaction rules aside for.

“Great!” she exclaims happily. “I’m usually here in the morning before school and also after school, sometimes I come in on the weekends-”

“Think I know why you can’t keep staff if those are your hours,” he interrupts, smiling softly at her enthusiasm for a school newspaper of all things.

Staring up at him, she takes  in his face fully before narrowing her eyes and pinning him with her gaze. “The less you know, the more you believe.”

He stands up a little straighter at her words. She’s _quoting_ at him. Fuck him, she really is his dream girl. “Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed; everything else is just public relations.”

“Are you really quoting George Orwell at me?”

Jughead huffs a laugh out. “You quoted Bono at me!”

Betty cracks a smile as he laughs.

Crossing his arms as he sits on the edge of a desk, he raises an eyebrow at her. “Journalism a passion of yours?”

“The truth is,” Betty quickly answers, grabbing a folder and looking through it, setting it back down with a sigh when she doesn’t seem to find what she’s after.

“Seems like there’s a story there,” he remarks in what he hopes is a casual way. He wants to know everything but he also doesn’t want to come off like a creep with no boundaries before he’s at least made somewhat of a good impression.

“Everything tells a story, Jughead.”

Wondering immediately if cynicism can make your heart palpitate, he’s distracted long enough by her presence to not hear the office door open. He’s pulled back from his thoughts as he hears Betty let out a soft sigh. Turning to look at what she’s giving her attention to he sees the redheaded jock from this morning.

“Betty, hey-” the guy starts, but cuts himself off as he sees Jughead and barely spares him a glance before continuing to talk to Betty. “Are you still doing the tour?”

Pressing her lips together, she gives the redhead a tight-lipped smile. “Sure am, Arch. Jughead, this is Archie Andrews. Archie, this is Jughead Jones.”

Archie seems confused before asking, “Jughead? I thought you were giving a tour to some kid named Forsythe.”

Jughead, standing up off the desk he’d been leaning on, gives Archie a small wave. “That’s me. I prefer Jughead.”

“You prefer Jughead?” Archie questions, looking doubtful.

“Yup,” he says, popping the _p_ on the end of the word as sarcastically as possible. He doesn’t know why but Archie is already rubbing him the wrong way. Pretending it has nothing to do with the fact that he’s so familiar with Betty or that he’s a jock and he’s got a terrible track record with them in general, he gives Archie a strained smile and shrug.

“What can I do for you, Arch?

“I wanted to see if I could borrow your chemistry notes.”

Watching her close her eyes, he sees Betty take a deep breath before she reaches into her bag and pulls out a notebook, handing it over to Archie.

“Don’t lose these this time, okay?”

Archie gives her a crooked smile and salutes her with the notebook before telling her he’d see her later and leaving without a word to Jughead.

“Friend of yours?” he asks, leaning back against the edge of the desk once more, hoping he’s not to hear all about her wonderful boyfriend.  

“One of my best, actually,” Betty says with a smile. “Even if he drives me nuts more than usual lately.”

Feeling his body relax, he changes the subject, having no interest in talking about redheaded jocks who already seem to want nothing to do with him. “When’s lunch?”

 

* * *

 

“And this,” she announces, “is our third period classroom and the end of our tour. Which, admittedly, would have been shorter had we not spent so much time in the Blue and Gold.”

After Archie had interrupted them between first and second period, she’d realized she had yet to actually finish showing him around the school so they’d spent between second and third period wandering around the campus, mostly talking about nothing while she peppered in random information along the way.

“So, this is English?” Jughead asks her, pulling on the straps of his bag and biting his lip a bit in what look like nerves.

“Yeah,” she replies. “You look nervous, are you okay?”

Lifting a shoulder in a half shrug he just gives her a strained smile. “I’m not a fan of that whole teacher trying to make you give your life story to a bunch of strangers thing.”

Betty makes a sound of agreement before bumping her shoulder against his arm and smiling at him with a consoling look. “I don’t think you’ll have that problem in this class.”

Grabbing the arm of his jacket, she leads him into the classroom, not letting go until she has him standing next to her usual desk.

“You can sit by me, okay?”

Jughead just stares at her for a moment with a facial expression she can’t place before dropping his bag on the floor and slipping into the desk chair, sitting sideways so he can face her. “So, how’s this class? My last school didn’t really care what we did as long as nothing was set on fire.”

Betty’s eyes widen before she tucks her chin down trying to stifle her laughter. It shouldn’t be funny but the way he delivers observations delights her and she’s only known him for a couple of hours.

Clearing her throat, she looks over at him through her lashes, biting back a smile. “Mrs. Barnes is a good teacher. She’s pretty hands off but that’s because as she says, “You should know what you’re doing, you’re seniors.”

“Sounds good to me, maybe it’ll give me time to work on the novel I’ve been writing.”

“You’ve been writing a novel?” Betty asks excitedly. “What’s it about? Can I read it?”

Jughead’s cheeks turn a little pink at her enthusiasm, like he can’t believe he let that slip out of his mouth but it’s too late. She knows about it now and isn’t going to rest until he lets her see it.

“Uh,” he stutters out, his shoulders slumping a bit like he’s trying to hide himself from her, “Maybe one day? When it’s finished?”

“Okay,” she agrees easily. “What’s it about, though?”

“It’s a crime novel, you know, gritty, noir style stuff.”

“That sounds great, Jughead,” Betty tells him, seeing Veronica enter the classroom and raising an eyebrow at someone being in her normal seat. Giving her pleading eyes, Veronica rolls her own and moves to take a seat near Josie McCoy, sitting with a hmph and pointed look at Betty.

Her attention back on Jughead, she smiles and grabs the book he’d taken out of his bag from him, showing him the chapter they’re currently on. She gets a little lost in the smile he gives back to her, neither of them feeling the need to fill the silence until the sound of someone clearing their throat startles Betty out of her thoughts.

“You must be Forsythe,” Mrs. Barnes says to Jughead, his head snapping up to face the teacher.

“Call me Jughead, please,” he says immediately.

Pursing her lips, Mrs. Barnes just gives him a sharp nod in response. “Well, Jughead, I assume Betty here will help get you caught up on where we currently are in our curriculum.”

“Of course,” Betty tells the teacher, giving her the Cooper smile of responsibility.

“Thank you, Betty.” Before turning and walking back to her desk she glances back at Jughead. “Oh, and happy birthday, Jughead.”

Reaching across the aisle, Betty grabs his arm again. “It’s your birthday!?”

Grimacing, Jughead tries to sink in his seat. “Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because historically my birthdays have not gone well for me,” he informs her in a wan voice.

“Oh,” Betty says quietly, absorbing the information. She doesn’t really know why but she feels an immediate sympathy for him and wants to make it better but is snapped out of her train of thought as Mrs. Barnes starts the class.

When the bell rings, Betty starts putting everything back in her bag, seeing Jughead fidget with his book and bag, seemingly unsure if he should wait for her or not. Getting up and out of her chair, she’s pulling her bag strap over her shoulder when she asks, “Are you ready?”

Nodding at her, Jughead looks relieved and gets up, following her out of the classroom and into the hallway.

“So,” Betty starts, “I know it’s your birthday-”

“Betty-”

“Just hear me out,” she pleads as she leads him to his fourth period classroom around the corner from their English class.

Sighing loudly, he gestures for her to continue.

“I know you’re new in town, right?” Betty asks. “But I also know after this morning that you love movies. Especially older ones.”

“Okay?”

“The theater in town, the Bijou, is showing a double horror feature the whole month of October. Going to the movies can’t go wrong, can it?”

Narrowing his eyes at her in confusion, he stops to stare down at her in the middle of the hallway. “What’s the feature?”

Betty falters at that. “I...don’t actually know.”

“Really?” he asks, smirking at her in a way that makes her feel like he’s more amused than anything else.

“We don’t have to watch both movies, you know. We can only stay for one and I can show you around that part of town if you want. To help you get used to Riverdale,” she says hurriedly, starting them walking again.

He looks like he’s debating with himself but when they reach the classroom door he spins around, giving her an indecipherable look. “I’ll agree to your offer if you can tell me where I can get-”

Cut off by Archie bumping into them, she rolls her eyes at the intrusion but ignores it for the moment. “Archie.”

“Hey, Betty,” Archie responds, ignoring Jughead altogether.

“Can you show Jughead to an open seat? I need to run if I don’t wanna be late myself,” Betty says, giving both of them a smile before telling Jughead that she’ll find him later to show him to their sixth period.

“Bye!” she calls over her shoulder, only faltering once she gets back around the corner at a hurried pace.

 _Did I just ask him out on a date?_ she wonders, her eyes growing with the realization of what that must have sounded like to an unsuspecting Jughead, ambushing him the way she did.  

 

* * *

 

 _Did she just ask me out?_ Jughead wonders in awe before seeing Archie staring at him, jerking his head at him to follow him into the classroom.

“You can sit there if you want,” Archie tells him, pointing to a desk over in the corner of the room before taking his own seat which is nowhere near the empty desk.

 _Well then,_ he thinks with a mental shrug of indifference towards the redhead.

Jughead’s entire body had felt like it was pulled taut for the rest of the day, even though he’d seen Betty numerous times after, his brain had decided to torture him on whether their movie that night was a date or a pity birthday thing or a nice girl showing random guy around town thing.

Deciding not to question it too much, he makes his way to the Bijou that night, following the instructions Betty had given him after school that day, telling him she’d meet him out front at five forty five sharp.

To say he’s shocked to see Archie and a girl he now knows is named Veronica out front as he walks up to the entrance is an understatement. Not wanting to intrude on what looked like a date of their own, he avoids eye contact as he goes to buy tickets for the first movie, _An American Werewolf in London_ , when he hears someone calling his name.

“Hey Jughead!”

Spinning around he sees that it’s Archie calling for him and he almost debates whether or not to just ignore it when he remembers that those people are Betty’s friends. Being nice to her friends probably won’t kill him, he decides, walking over to where Archie and Veronica are standing.

“Uh, hey,” he mutters, putting his hands in his pockets, feeling uncomfortable just standing there with two people he considers strangers.

“So, Ronnie, this is Jughead,” Archie says, giving them both a big smile.

Veronica shifts her weight from one foot to the other. “I’ve been made aware of who he is, Archiekins.”

“Oh, right,” Archie murmurs. “Anyway, Jughead, this is Ronnie.”

“Veronica.” The correction is made clear by her tone that she does not want him calling her Ronnie. Which is fine by Jughead, he has no desire to call her _anything._

Rolling back and forth on the balls of his feet, he just looks around them and down the street. “Are you here to meet Betty too?”

Narrowed eyes stare at him as Veronica takes him in. “You’re meeting Betty?”

Confused, Jughead takes a step back before meeting her eyes. “Yes? I made plans with Betty this morning.”

“Did you hear that, Archie?” Veronica turns to him to take in his guilty looking face. “Jughead here made plans with Betty this morning. So, I’ll ask you again, why am I here?”

Archie’s face reddens as he runs a hand through his hair, sighing. “I thought you might want to meet Betty’s new friend.”

Jughead watches their interaction, not any less confused than before. Veronica’s irritated expression makes Archie wince when she crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow at him.

“Really?” Her disbelief is clear.

At that moment, he sees a flash of blonde hair and almost exhales loudly in relief.

“Hi, Jughead!” Betty greets him enthusiastically before noticing her friends standing to the side of him. “Veronica? Archie? What are you doing here?”

Pulling his hands out of his pockets, he gives her a tight-lipped smile before she turns completely to face the interlopers. This is not what he had in mind for tonight and it’s proof that his birthday is still out to get him, soulmate or not.

“Archiekins was simply dying to come see a movie tonight, B,” Veronica says with a smile for Betty.

 _Wow,_ he thinks, _and suddenly she’s nice?_

Betty’s annoyed face soothes his ego a little bit. It helps knowing she didn’t plan on her friends being here either. She had wanted to be alone with him. That in itself is enough of a balm for him to feel gracious enough to make a gesture of good will.

“I already got tickets, Betty,” he informs her before giving Archie and Veronica a passive look. “I don’t know if they bought tickets, though.”

A strained smile with a hint of relief of him handling the situation comes over her face and she takes the lead, tugging on his wrist to get him to follow her inside the theater. He huffs out an irritated breath but just shakes his head, ignoring the other two’s presence as he pulls out the tickets for himself and Betty.

Finding seats is easy in the empty theater and he only has a moment of clarity before Archie essentially forces Veronica to sit next to him as Archie takes the seat on the other side of Betty.

 _Oh,_ he internally groans. _Really? A set up with the ice queen? I’d rather eat rocks._

Betty is leaning over the arm of the chair towards him, smiling brightly at him. He thinks she might have asked him something but he’d been completely distracted by the way her smile lights up her face.

“I’m sorry, what?”

A giggle escapes her and he sees Archie glaring at him from over her shoulder.

“I said, do you want me to get some popcorn since you bought my ticket? It’s only fair.”

Shaking his head, he tries to tell her no when she cuts him off again.

“No arguments, Jughead. I’ll be right back,” she insists, getting up and making her way out of the aisle, the backs of her knees brushing against his legs, sending little jolts of electricity through him.

Realizing he’s been left alone with Veronica and Archie, he shrinks a little in his chair, trying to avoid having to talk to either of them. He can hear Veronica take a deep breath, an annoyed sound coming out on the exhale.

 _Well I don’t like you either,_ he tells her sarcastically in his head.

Feeling the heat of Archie’s stare, he determinedly ignores both of them, concentrating instead on his phone when he pulls it out of his pocket to check his messages. He knows he has none but neither of them need to know that. At the five minute mark of pleading silently for Betty to come back, the lights go dark in the theater as the movie starts. Seeing her silhouette against the light of the movie screen as she makes her way up the steps, he’s sure he visibly relaxes as he slips his phone back into his pocket, sitting up straighter to make more leg room for her to get past him.

As she’s shuffling past Veronica, he feels her foot catch on his boot and she stumbles, hands full of popcorn and a soda and it’s like he sees it happening in slow motion as his hands come up in the dark to help steady her. But both of them are too slow to keep her from falling, and all he knows is he ends up with his hands on her ass in his lap as she lands with an  _oof_.

 _I’m grabbing her ass. I have actual handfuls of Betty Cooper’s ass and she’s in my lap, what do I do?_ is playing on repeat in his head as his eyes widen at the situation they’ve found themselves in.

He can’t move his hands because she’s sitting on them and if he pulls on them he’s pretty sure it’s going to come off as coping a feel, something he’d love to do but not with an audience so he just stays painfully still while bargaining with his own humanity for nothing to **_pop_ ** up and ruin his life.

Veronica is the first to react. “Betty, are you okay?”

Jughead sees Archie standing up, seemingly to help Betty get up but she just starts laughing. Her laughing sends vibrations through her body which sends them through the palms of his hands and suddenly he wants to start laughing too. After a second of trying to refrain, he gives in and the both of them just start laughing louder, much to the chagrin of Betty’s friends.

She twists while still holding onto the popcorn and soda to look at him. “I’m sorry, Jughead. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he manages to get out. “Are you?”

“Yeah,” she says. “Let me just-ugh, Archie can you take these?”

Archie nods, grabbing the popcorn and drink out of her hands so she can grab onto the armrests to push herself off of his lap. With more grace than you’d expect from someone who just tripped over her own feet _and_ his, she slips easily into her own seat, taking the snacks back and offering him some popcorn without even mentioning the fact that his hands were just all over her ass.

When the only sounds he can hear are the crunching of his own chewing and the dialogue from the movie, he lets himself get lost in thought about the whirlwind day he’s had so far. Between starting a new school on his birthday while also getting his first soulmate dream, you’d think his morning would have been enough.

But no.

He managed to meet his soulmate that same day. And he’s already more than halfway gone for her and she doesn’t even know who she is to him yet. Letting his head fall back he starts thinking of ways to tell her about being the literal girl of his dreams.

_Hey, Betty, did you know we’re meant to be? Yeah me either until today…_

_So, hey, you know those pesky soulmate dreams some people get? Turns out you’re mine!_

_How do you feel about a future with that whole marriage and baby thing with a guy you’ve known for less than twelve hours?_

_Have you considered maybe letting me kiss you for the next seventy years or so?_

_So, don’t feel obligated or anything but did you know you’re the one person in the world meant for me?_

_No pressure but what are the chances you’d agree to let me date the hell out of you if I told you about this wild dream I had last night?_

Each new thought brings him closer to a new level of frustration. He can already tell that Betty is the sort of girl that would throw herself into something with that sort of information. She’s not even eighteen yet and he doesn’t want her to want him based on a _maybe_ they might be soulmates. He wants her to want him for _him_.

 _I’ll tell her,_ he promises himself. _But maybe when we get to know each other better._

 _A few more dreams_ is his last thought on the subject before turning his head to look at Betty. She’s fully engaged in what’s happening on screen and she’s blindly reaching into the popcorn bucket, dropping more on her lap than she’s managing to get in her mouth and he has to cover his mouth with a hand to keep from smiling like an idiot at how adorable he thinks she is.

He watches her reach for the soda, taking a drink before twisting to face him with a smile, offering it to him, looking totally unperturbed by sharing a straw with a virtual stranger and the irritated looks being sent his way by both of her friends.

 _Yeah,_ he thinks a final time. _I’ll tell her soon._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jughead touched the butt. I bet he's gonna think about that later. Or I will when I write it? Meh, it's fine. Totally fine. 
> 
> ANYWAYS, big love to indiebughead and jandjsalmon for reading this for me and, fine, for Maria going to town on my tenses and mistakes. We love her for it. She still won't let me use the fact that time is a construct to excuse them but whatever. 
> 
> Whatever, Maria. 
> 
> Anyways, I offer this humbly to you on the cursed day of my birth in honor of Jughead's terrible birthdays. I feel him and today, I gotta be real, I just hope nothing catches on fire and I'll call it a win, tbh. 
> 
> But, you guys have been so sweet on tumblr about it even though I definitely don't deserve it and you can come [tumble](https://thetaoofbetty.tumblr.com/) with me if you want! 
> 
> BESOS TO YOU ALL, I love you guys and your comments, they motivate the muse so thank you for them!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH HOLY UPDATE, THE, UH, SOMETHING IS, AH FUCK, SINGING? 
> 
> This bitch doesn't know the words, apparently. But, I do know the words to this little timeless beauty- 
> 
> ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOUUUUU 
> 
> I've been eating sugar for 3 days straight, forgive me. 
> 
> Also! Read on, this one is pretty long and also almost killed me so do me a solid and pretend to love it, okay? 
> 
> Okay. Good.

“He’s eighteen now, Betty,” Veronica is saying as she moves around to sit in the chair next to her in the Blue and Gold office.

Giving her a look of confusion, Betty replies, “I know. So?”

A fond look crosses Veronica’s face. “So aren’t you worried about him having a soulmate?”

“V, that’s not really anyone’s business. You can’t just ask people about that, you know how private that kind of thing is.”

Trying to soothe her, Veronica reaches forward and puts her hand over Betty’s. “I’m just worried you’re going get hurt. What do you even know about him?”

Betty scoffs at her. “You’re acting like we’re dating. Or that he even _likes_ me-”

“Please, girl,” Veronica interrupts. “The only way he could be more obvious is if he walked around wearing a neon sign that says “I heart Betty Cooper.”

“You don’t even know him.”

“I don’t have to, it’s written all over his face, B.”

“Veronica, look, I get that you’re concerned and I appreciate it but we don’t know each other that well yet, just because I think he’s nice to look at-”

“Really?” Veronica asks, disbelieving. “But he’s so -just, no.”

Betty feels immediately offended on Jughead’s behalf. She knows Veronica can be a little harsh in her judgments but in Betty’s opinion, he’s definitely easy on the eyes. “Don’t be judgmental, V, not everyone needs to look like they live in a gym to be attractive.”

“I’m not saying they do,” she defends with a shrug. “But, Betty, come on, he wears suspenders that hang down and that hat is a disaster. Plus those flannels? Combat boots? It’s like he time traveled from the early 90’s and brought his failed aesthetic with him.”

“Veronica!”

“Fine,” she acquiesces. “Just, listen, if you’re lonely and want a date or few to see what your options are, let me set you up with some people. You can do better than some new guy you don’t even know who thinks grunge still looks good.”

Betty huffs in irritation before meeting Veronica’s eyes with a glare. “I don’t want to date a bunch of jocks you already dated. Look, I know I just met him, but I already like who he is, okay? He’s smart and cute and funny. And he’s _nice_ to me. Why is that such a bad thing?”

“It’s not,” Veronica agrees. “But you’re right, you don’t know him, not really. You only know what he’s showing you-”

“That’s true for everyone,” Betty quickly interjects.

Nodding at her, Veronica continues. “I just think you can do better, B.”

Betty takes in her words and rolls them around in her mind for a second. She’s aware she doesn’t _know_ Jughead. She only met him less than two weeks ago but it feels like forever already, like she’s never not had him in her life and she doesn’t want to lose that, no matter what Veronica says or thinks.

“I love you, Veronica,” she says to her best friend, intertwining her fingers with the hand that Veronica put on hers, “but these are my choices. And if I date Jughead or just stay friends with him, the only people that matter in those decisions are him and me.”

Groaning, Veronica squeezes Betty’s hand once before letting it go and crossing her arms over her chest. “But he’s so pretentious.”

Eyes widening, Betty coughs to cover a laugh. “That’s, uh, a fair opinion, I suppose. If you’re fine with the snobby kettle calling the pretentious pot black.”

Glaring at her, Veronica stands up, wiping her skirt of imaginary lint and raises an eyebrow at her. “Are you calling me a snob?”

“Yes. Undoubtedly. You, Veronica Lodge, are a snob. You fly in cupcakes from New York City for crying out loud.”

Sniffing in disdain, Veronica adjusts the pearls around her neck. “If wanting the best and therefore having the best makes me a snob, then Elizabeth Cooper, yes, I am a snob.”

Betty can see that she’s upset her and the people pleasing instinct is screaming to kick in and placate her but before she can, she hears the door being pushed open and she swivels around in her chair to see Jughead walking through the door.

“Of course,” Veronica says in her most derisive tone.

“I can come back,” Jughead offers, looking between her and Veronica.

“And what? Cut into your before school Betty time? We can’t have that now, can we?” Veronica snaps at him before telling Betty she’ll see her later and walking out of the office with a slammed door behind her.

Betty and Jughead wince at the same time with the sound of the door closing but Jughead is the first to talk.

“She forgot during and after school Betty time,” he says with a smirk, shoving his hands in his pockets and leaning against the edge of a desk, “Veronica doesn’t like me much, does she?”

Betty sighs and shakes her head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her, it’s like she’s-”

“Jealous,” he interrupts. “She’s acting like she’s jealous and thinks I’m taking you away from her.”

Rolling her eyes, Betty turns towards her desk. “That’s ridiculous, I spend just as much time with her as I usually do.”

“Then maybe she just hates me for no reason?”

“Oh she’s got reasons,” Betty replies without thinking. _“Damn.”_

“Reasons, huh?” Jughead stands up and walks over to stand next to Betty’s chair, propping a hip against her desk and he glances down at her face, amused. “Want to share them?”

“I think,” Betty starts, biting on her lip in concentration, “she just doesn’t trust you, maybe? I’m not sure but she doesn’t even know you well enough-”

“A status I’m a fan of,” Jughead cuts in, smiling wryly. “I know she’s your friend, Betty, but I don’t actually _care_ why she doesn't like me. And I don’t care about fixing it, either. I’m fine letting Veronica do whatever it is that Veronica Lodge does.”

Breathing out as she flops back into her desk chair, she’s looking up at him with a put out expression. “Jug-”

“Betty,” he says, throwing a pen he picked up off her desk in the air so that it spins a few times before he catches it, “some people are just incompatible. And you can pout at me with those big eyes of yours but it’s not going to change my mind.”

“Fine.” Throwing another pen at him, making him drop the one he’s tossing in the air, she laughs as he looks over at her, offended. “We have to go to the library after school. Unless you want to miss lunch to go?”

“No,” he immediately says, horrified. “After school is fine.”

Betty laughs at his panic before sticking her hand out, having him help her stand before she grabs her bag and drags him along to their first period.

 

* * *

 

_His fingers are gripped around her wrists, pinning her hands to the mattress as he moves in and out of her, the feeling of her warm breath hitting him on his shoulder as he buries his head into the soft skin of her neck._

_“Fuck, my girl is so good for me, isn’t she?” he whispers into her ear as her legs tighten around his hips._

_“Mmm,” is all he gets in reply and it makes him smile._

_Slowing down, he hears her whimper as he pulls away from her slightly. “I asked you a question.”_

_The heavy blinking of her eyes tells him she’s barely coherent as she tries to concentrate while slowly pushing his hips into hers. Letting go of her hands he moves to sit up, taking her with him, settling her on his thighs and running his hand up her spine and into the back of her hair, tugging on it as she comes back to herself._

_“Yes,” she groans out, her hips rolling as she wraps her arms around him._

_“Yes what?”_

_“I’m good for you,” she murmurs, legs tightening on the outside of his. “Jug, please-”_

_“Please what?”_

_“I want to come,” Betty whimpers, her head falling back as she tries to wiggle her hips around to get more friction._

_“What do I need from you for that, then?”_

_Her need is almost a palpable thing in the room with them and he can feel the shiver his words sent through her body._

_Eyes open and staring at him she tell him in a low voice “I can be good.”_

_Leaning back to assess her face he pulls on her hair, her head going back with the motion as a moan escapes her mouth. “I’m not sure you can.”_

_Shaking her head as her fingers dig into his shoulder blades she brings herself closer to him, “I can be. I can be_ so _good.”_

_“We’ll see.”_

_Slipping his hand from her hair he brings it between their bodies and he’s reverently watching her bounce herself on his lap as the first soft touch of her clit has her gasping, the feeling of her involuntary clench around him sending jolts of heat through his abdomen._

_His free hand is on the back of her neck, holding her still for a beat as he works her to her edge before trying to reach his own-_

“Oh fuck,” Jughead chokes out, face first into his pillow, breathing heavily and trying to get control of his breathing. The dreams ability to let you feel the sensations and emotions as they’re happening, he decides immediately, is his new favorite thing. He’d known it would happen, he’d felt the all encompassing, overwhelming love that came over him in the first dream he’d had about Betty.

But this was something else and he was not going to look that gift horse in the mouth. He’d have preferred for his dream to reach its happy conclusion but to have any clue to what it feels like to have Betty Cooper wrapped tight around him is enough for him.

And, apparently, his girl is a bit kinky. He thinks he can work with that. Operation Woo Betty Cooper had been in full force for a few days now and he was getting better at ignoring the twinge of guilt that came with knowing who she was to _him_ but not knowing who he might be to _her._

Every time he opens his mouth to tell her, the insecurity of not being able to win her over as just himself takes over ending with him swallowing the words each time. And then, of course, the longer he takes to tell her, the worse it gets.

The naive hope he has of it not blowing up in his face dwindles with each passing day.

He’d heard part of the conversation Betty and Veronica were having the previous day but he stopped listening too hard after he heard that Betty found him attractive. He didn’t realize how badly he wanted that to be the case until that very moment but knowing that gives him a bit of confidence he was lacking before.

By the time he makes it school, there’s a bounce in his step and he’s so distracted he doesn’t even see who it is he runs directly into.

“I’m sorry,” he’s saying, bending down to pick up dropped books that were scattered across the floor.

“It’s okay, Jughead,” he hears a feminine voice say and his head snaps up to meet Ethel Muggs’ eyes. The sudden and overwhelming wish that the floor would swallow him engulfs him.

Ethel is -nice. He’s met her a few times over the last week in the Blue and Gold office when they’re working on the paper but aside from that, he doesn’t think they have anything in common or anything to talk about, even if he’s almost certain they share a few classes together.

Mainly because he can feel the heat of her stare when he’s pretending to try and concentrate in class.

“Hey, Ethel,” he says, giving her a weak smile. The big smile in return he gets somehow both freaks him out and makes him feel incredibly guilty.

Being friends with her would be his best case scenario but he’s not sure that’s what she’s after when he keeps catching her staring at his mouth.

He wishes Betty would stare at his mouth half as much as Ethel does.

“How are you this morning?” she asks, standing up and reaching out for the books he picked up off the ground. Passing them to her, he almost jumps when her fingers almost grip his against the book.

 _Is that flirting?_ he wonders, wishing for an interruption.

“Fine, uh,” he stutters to a stop at the feel of her almost caressing the hand that was still holding onto the books, waiting for her to take them completely. “I’m fine. You?”

Almost shoving the books at her, he tries to cover a grimace at her look of surprise. Hating this awkward feeling coursing through him, he keeps looking around the hallway in hopes of some sort of distraction.

“I’m good, Jughead,” Ethel answers, tucking a piece of her curly hair behind her ear with a smile. “I was thinking-”

“Oh yeah? About what?” he interrupts, the effort to hurry the conversation seeming to be in vain as she just smiles wider at him.

_Does this hallway have a black hole I can jump headfirst into?_

“I don’t know if you knew this but we have a drive-in here and I was thinking we could go see a movie. You know, before they close it for the winter.”

“A movie,” he says, trying to draw the idea of it out while he thinks of something to say. Anything, really. “At the drive-in?”

“The Twilight Drive-In,” Ethel informs him, her smile growing wider.

“So it’d be you, me, and who else are you inviting?” The hope of a diversionary tactic is the only thing he can think of. Maybe if she doesn’t think he’ll think it’s a date then she’ll take the hint that he’s not interested in her.

“Uh,” she says, frowning at him, “just you and me, of course.”

 _Okay, that failed,_ he laments silently before another idea hits him. A stupid one. One that might bite him in the ass but he blurts it out before he can stop himself as he catches sight of Betty walking towards him in the hallway.

_Fuck, I hope Betty forgives me for this._

“Oh, I see,” he tells her, trying to look contemplative. “Would it be a problem if I wanted to bring my girlfriend along?”

Ethel’s eyes widen. “Since when do you have a girlfriend?”

“It’s brand new,” he mentions nonchalantly. “Just started dating, actually. But I’m sure she’d love to go to the movies too.”

“Who’s your girlfriend?”

Gesturing to right behind Ethel, he smiles at Betty when he catches her eye. “Betty, hi.”

“Hey, Jug. Hi, Ethel,” she greets them with a sunny smile, her expression turning into one of confusion as Jughead grabs for her hand and tugs her into his side. Looking at their hands then back up at him she opens her mouth and he starts talking before she can get a word out.

“So, what night were you thinking about for the movies?”

Ethel, looking crestfallen stammers out, “Uhm, I’ll -I’ll get back to you, Jughead, okay?”

“Sure,” Jughead agrees easily. “I’ll see you later, Ethel.”

Keeping hold of Betty’s hand as he waits for Ethel to take off in the other direction he leans back against a set of lockers, letting out a relieved breath.

That is, until he remembered what he’s just done.

“Oh shit, Betty, I’m sorry,” he says, dropping her hand and wincing with the knowledge he has to tell her what he’s done.

“Sorry for what?” Betty laughs out. “I’m almost certain random hand grabbing is not an actual crime. Yet, anyway.”

Straightening up and facing her fully, he steels himself. “I have to tell you something but I need you to not kill me for it.”

“For what?”

“Not until I hear more about you agreeing not to kill me.”

Rolling her eyes at him, she holds up a hand and says, “I solemnly swear I will not kill you for whatever you’re about to tell me.”

“I sort of told Ethel you’re my girlfriend so I could avoid directly rejecting her because in my limited scope of social interaction I don’t know how to politely say that I’m not interested,” he rushes out, watching her expression go from amused to confused to shocked.

“You told Ethel I’m your girlfriend?”

“Yes.”

“Because she asked you out and you didn’t know how to say no?”

“Also yes.”

Betty stares at him. “You realize this makes you an idiot?”

“Clearly.”

Slowly nodding her head at him, her lips purse while she thinks. “You do know, don’t you, that it’s going to blow up in your face when she realizes you’re not really dating me?”

A pang of longing hits him. He _wants_ to be dating Betty Cooper.

“Or-” he starts but cuts himself off before he can speak without thinking.

“Or?” Betty asks, looking perplexed.

He takes a step closer to her.

Hearing her breath catch at his proximity, he continues. “Or we can make it reality.”

“Are you saying you want to date me?” Betty’s peering into his eyes, probably trying to measure his sincerity.

Standing in front of her, gazing down into her pretty face, he swallows nervously. “I’m saying I’d like to date the hell out of you, Cooper.”

“Because you’re avoiding Ethel?”

Shaking his head at her, he smiles. “Because I like you, Betty.”

She smiles widely at him. “That’s it? That’s the only reason?”

Licking his lips, he glances at her mouth before meeting her eyes. “I also want to -no, I _need_ to- kiss you.”

Her lips part slightly in surprise. “Need to?”

“Oh yeah, it’s definitely a need at this point.” Bringing a hand up to her face, he cups her cheek in his hand as he runs a thumb across her lower lip. “Can I kiss you, Betty?”

“Yes please,” she responds, breathless.

Leaning down as he wraps his fingers around the back of her neck, his other hand settling on the curve of her waist. Pulling her toward him, he feels her hands come up, gripping his jacket tightly as rolls up on her toes to meet him halfway.

The feeling of her warm breath hitting his lips makes his stomach jump. Closing his eyes, the barest brush of her lips on his sends a shiver up his spine and he thinks once he feels her lips fully pressed against his, he might just melt into her.

“Ahem.” The sound cuts through their moment, startling Betty, causing her to lean back.

Jughead bites back a frustrated groan and flexes the fingers still holding onto Betty’s waist. He knows without looking who it is and he wants to spin around so he can bang his head on the lockers behind him until he forgets that he ever heard the name Veronica Lodge.

“V,” Betty says, a bright flush crawling up her cheeks. “Hi.”

He’s becoming strangely attached to that color of pink he realizes when he can’t stop the soft smile that twitches his lips up as he watches her stare with wide eyes at the current bane of his existence.

“Bettykins.”

“What’s up?” Betty asks, her hands letting go of his jacket and falling to her sides.

“You might be interested to know that you are, in fact, in public,” Veronica tells her, gesturing down the hallway.

Taking his eyes off of Betty, he looks around to see that aside from Veronica the only other people visible are Archie, Reggie, and a boy in dark rimmed glasses he doesn’t know the name of.

His hand is still wrapped around the curve of her neck and he lets his thumb run across the skin, giving her goosebumps as she has a silent stand-off with her best friend.

“There’s like four people, including you, and there was no one in the hall a minute ago,” Betty defends and he can feel her body stiffen at the facial expression Veronica is making at him.

Jughead exhales loudly, catching both of their attention.

Letting his hands fall away from Betty, she turns to look at him with a question in her eyes. Reaching out and wrapping and arm around her shoulders, he feels her relax into him, causing him to relax in turn.

“Thanks for informing us, Veronica,” he says, a strained smile crossing his face.

Veronica is examining him coolly. “You’re welcome, Jughead.”

To say that the mood had been effectively ruined would have been an understatement. Walking to their first period he keeps his arm around her, slipping her bag off of her shoulder as they go and putting it over his own, he hears whispers as students fill the halls, heading towards their lockers and classes but stopping to gawk at the pair of them.

“Looks like we’re quite a sight,” he whispers.

Betty shrugs. “I’m not worried about it.” She stops suddenly and twists to face him. “Does it bother you?”

Taking in her face, he can see the uncertainty of the solidity their new situation peeking through her eyes. Smirking, he leans down to murmur in her ear, “The only thing that bothers me is being interrupted earlier.”

As he straightens up, he pulls softly on the end of her ponytail and the way her pupils dilate sends a thrill through him.

“Come on, Cooper, you’re gonna make me late and you know how I feel about punctuality.”

She rolls her eyes at him, trying to take her bag off of his shoulder but he dodges her, settling his arm around her shoulders once more.

“I can carry my own bag, Jug.”

“And I bet you do it better than any man but for the sake of my chivalrous nature, you’re just gonna have to let me do this for you.”

“Your chivalrous nature?” Betty laughs lightly. “That’s what you’re going with?”

“Mmhm,” he hums out, steering her around a group of oblivious freshman. “What can I say? You just bring it out in me, Betty.”

Shaking her head at him she leads them into their first period where he walks her to her desk, dropping her bag on the wooden top. Giving her a smile as she slides into her chair, he makes his way to his own desk a few spots over, sitting and pulling out his phone, shooting off a text to her.

_To be continued_

Glancing at her, he can see the blush on her cheeks as she shoves her phone back into her bag, pulling out her notebook and flipping through it as she studiously ignores him.

Biting back a laugh, he pulls his own notebook out, trying to remember if they had homework, and more importantly, if he did it if they did.

When he finally makes it to his fourth period, having ignored the stares and the whispering surrounding him and Betty the entire morning, he’s ready to sit and pretend to pay attention without being interrupted for the next hour. Slouching into the desk, he’s finally feeling relaxed when he catches the blue and gold colors of a Bulldogs letterman jacket out of the corner of his eye.

 _Oh you have got to be kidding me,_ he thinks, an exasperated sigh on his lips as he holds in a groan.

“So,” Archie says, his jaw tight, “you and Betty?”

Jughead starts picking at the hem of his jacket, annoyed by the absurd level of interest everyone is showing in the relationship he’s _trying_ to have with Betty. Swallowing all of the sarcastic remarks that he’s dying to throw Archie’s way he just shifts in his seat until he’s facing him.

“Hopefully, yeah.”

“You do know it can’t last, right?”

Breathing in deeply to control his urge to declare that Betty Cooper is **_his_ ** soulmate so yes, he actually does think it can last he just blinks at Archie silently in response. The quiet always makes people keep talking. Some weird need to fill the silence and Jughead thinks that’s where you learn what they really want to say.

“What I know,” he tells him firmly, “is that Betty can make her own choices. And it’s not my fault that it’s not _you,_ man.”

“You don’t even know her-”

“I know enough,” he says, cutting Archie off. “And the point, Andrews, is that I want to know more. So, until Betty tells me otherwise, I’m going to keep getting to know her.”

“What happens, Jones, when she turns eighteen and I’m the one she dreams of?”

He feels a cold fear at those words. He does worry about it, he thinks about it all the time, actually. It terrifies him that he might be one of the ones who dreams of someone who doesn’t dream of him.

But not enough for him not to at least _try._

“You don’t have the history we have,” Archie is saying, knocking Jughead out of his thoughts. “What do you know about her family? Does she even talk about them to you? I bet she doesn’t.”

“So?” Jughead snaps at him. Betty does not, in fact, talk to him about her family. Not that he’s shared much about his own. He’s trying to get to know Betty, not her family tree.

Archie looks smug. “I bet, Jughead, that you don’t even know when her birthday is.”

Jughead sucks in a sharp breath. Archie is hitting every one of his insecurities and by the looks of it, he knows it. He doesn’t know when her birthday is. He doesn’t know anything about her family. He doesn’t have the history she does with the rest of her friends.

The sinking sensation in his stomach is making him nauseous. Archie looks at him like he knows what he’s thinking and sends a half-smile his way before getting up and heading back to his own desk.

He spends the entire class thinking about all of it. Things he doesn’t know. All the things he needs to know. A whole list of stuff he suddenly has questions about. At the end of the period he’s slow to grab his bag and catches Archie’s eye again.

It hits him then. What he _does_ have.

Walking by Archie and clapping him on the shoulder as he passes he fakes as much confidence as he can muster and says, “Everything you said? It’s true. But you forgot one thing I do have.”

Archie’s confused face amuses him. Turning around to take a step backward out of the classroom he just smiles at the redhead.

“I’m the one who’ll be kissing her today, Andrews. You can write that down, you know, in case you forget and need to remember who Betty’s interested in later.”

He maintains his air of confidence until he makes it to the bathroom. He still had to get through fifth period before lunch, when he told Betty he’d meet her in the newspaper office. Leaning against the wall, he closes his eyes and tries to compose himself.

 _They don’t matter,_ he thinks, _Archie and Veronica? They’re just noise. Betty likes you. She was going to let you kiss her. Date her. You can do this._

And for a moment, he decides that he can.

 

* * *

 

He’s in the Blue and Gold before Betty, standing nervously by the desk she’d designated as his. Trying not to fidget, he feels like there’s a brick in his stomach when he sees the door start to open.

_God, please don’t be Ethel._

Relaxing at the sight of Betty’s blonde hair, he takes a step towards her as she’s closing the door behind her.

“Hey,” she says with a smile, biting her lip as she walks slowly over to him.

“Hey.”

Her hands are intertwined in front of her and she’s not meeting his eyes as he gets closer.

Swallowing his nerves he reaches out and tilts her chin up to look at him. “Hi.” He feels dumb saying it again but the silence in the room feels like it might suffocate him.

“Hi,” she says back to him. They both smile at the absurdity of how awkward he knows they both feel.

“So-” they both blurt out at the same time.

“You first,” she tells him, her expression making him suddenly more nervous than before.

It was a lot easier to forget everything in the hallway that morning, the adrenaline and sensations still coursing through him after his dream.

Trying to bury the doubts and Archie’s voice replaying in his head he remembers that she’s nervous too. The desire to comfort her overrides the nerves and he reaches out to her, pulling her closer to him by the hand until she was right in front of him.

Bringing his other hand up to her jaw, his thumb caressing her jawline. He can hear the sharp inhale Betty makes as his fingers run across her skin and he uses his thumb to push her face up towards him.

One of her hands comes up and grasps his wrist as she lets go of his other hand to grip her fingers into his jacket, the same way she had earlier that morning. He puts his now free hand on her lower back, pushing her into him as he leans down, his heart beating faster at her proximity.

Seeing her eyes close as she gets closer he’s back where he was in the hallway, feeling her warm breath across his lips, the rest of the world fading out as he’s about to kiss Betty for the first time.

He feels her pressing against him and his fingers flex into her lower back when he thinks about something else about the morning.

_“What I know,” he tells him firmly, “is that Betty can make her own choices. And it’s not my fault that it’s not you, man.”_

_“You don’t even know her-”_

_“I know enough,” he says, cutting Archie off. “And the point, Andrews, is that I want to know more. So, until Betty tells me otherwise, I’m going to keep getting to know her.”_

The more he dwells on it, the more he knows he has to tell her. It has to be _her_ choice. She deserves all of the information before making any decisions in being with him or not.

He thinks pulling back from her is probably the hardest thing he’s ever done but he manages it, letting his hand drop from her back but reaching up to take her hand off his jacket and intertwines their fingers, his other hand tracing small circles on the side of her neck.

Her eyes open and she looks at him with a mixture of confusion and what he thinks might be hurt.

Closing his own eyes as he takes a deep breath, he steels himself for what he’s about to do.

“Betty, there’s something I need to tell you.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT THE FUCK, JUGHEAD? 
> 
> Ugh, what a messed up time to get all moral and shit. Right? Sigh. What a little shit. 
> 
> Dude. Dudes. You guys. Listen. LISTEN. I am so super ready to get started on the next chapter and imma try but Christmas? Is like a thing? That keeps happening every single year? Rude. 
> 
> MERRY HAPPY HOLIDAYS YOU CELEBRATE TO YOU GUYS! 
> 
> Anyways, the point is that I love you guys. And bughead. And candy. So I wish you besos upon besos because you guys and the comments you leave make these chapters happen, you don't even know, seriously, and I'm grateful for them. And that anyone wants to read my nonsense. So, you know, I'd say something mushier but then I'd have to spend the rest of the day repressing those feelings until they were back in the sad little box I keep in my brain. And I don't have time for that, I've got shit to wrap, guys. 
> 
> As always, you can come [tumble](https://thetaoofbetty.tumblr.com/) with me if you want. 
> 
> BESOS AGAIN, LOVE YOU.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys. I'm dead. First, I ate a salad to combat my Christmas candy issues and apparently it's not a miracle fix? Like, you have to eat healthy more than once? 
> 
> Sounds fake. 
> 
> So, I'm eating more candy in the spirit of rebellion and offering you this as a token of my appreciation.

_“Betty, I have to tell you something.”_

She’s still reeling from the fact that he pulled back right before kissing her for the first time, leaving her in a state of confusion, anxiety, and hurt.

Eyes searching his, she sees the pain there. Trying not to jump conclusions, ones that involve rejection and subsequent humiliation, Betty waits for him to speak.

“I should have told you this before,” he says, his fingers tightening around hers. “I wanted to right away, I really did.”

“You’re making me nervous, Jug,” Betty tells him quietly, apprehension starting to make her feel smothered. “What is it?”

“I need you to understand that I just didn’t know how you would take it, okay?”  he pleads, eyes turning glassy as he stares at her. “You know the day we met was my birthday, right? I had a dream the morning I turned eighteen.”

Betty feels like her blood turns to ice and she rips herself out of his grip, taking a step back as her eyes start to water, one of her biggest fears about him knocking the breath out of her. “What are you saying? That you have a soulmate and you’re what? Just having fun with me until you meet her?”

“Betty, no,” he says, reaching for her again as she takes another step back. “That’s not-”

“I am not a scenic route to your true love, Jughead!” she yells, cutting him off. “Why would you-”

Jughead takes another step towards her and she backs up quickly until she hits the edge of a desk. With nowhere to go she stands firm, her chin lifted in the air even as it starts wobbling as she fights to keep from crying.

Avoiding his eyes as he stands in front of her, she crosses her arms defensively, shoulders straight, blinking quickly to keep the tears from falling.

She feels his hands on her face, cupping her cheeks to try and get her to look up at him.

“Don’t,” she warns, trying to lean back further and out of his reach. Feeling his thumbs run up and down her neck in soothing motions is something she knows she’d really like if she wasn’t so mad and hurt.

“Listen to me, please,” Jughead begs her, his own voice wavering as he seems to swallow back tears. “Look at me, Betty.”

She wants to. If only to see the truth in his face when he finishes breaking something she wasn’t even aware he had the power to break yet. Turning her eyes onto his she can’t help it as a tear slides down her cheek and she holds in a sob when she feels him wiping it away.

“I do have a soulmate,” he whispers, voice cracking.

Betty lets out the first sob and tries to push him away and failing when he doesn’t even take a step back, just standing there with his hands holding her face, letting her push at his chest and arms ineffectively.

“Go away, Jug,” she cries, slumping against the edge of the desk, her arms falling to her sides defeatedly.

“Betty, please look at me,” he murmurs, leaning forward and pressing a soft kiss to her forehead.

Shaking her head as she stares at her feet, she feels a finger under her chin, tilting her face up and she knows she’s red and blotchy from crying but she glares at Jughead anyway.

“Why?” she asks, her voice wavering but hard. He’s close to crying himself, she can see it in the redness of his eyes and the way his throat moves as he keeps swallowing.

“I need you to listen to me,” he says softly. “I mean, really listen to what I have to say and if after that, if you want me to leave I will. Okay?”

She just gives him a short nod as she meets his eyes.

“I never wanted to admit to anyone that I wanted a soulmate, you know? There’s so many terrible experiences written down about the whole thing, it almost seems like it’s better to avoid it altogether, right?”

Betty shrugs, still meeting his eyes but staying silent.

Jughead’s hands are flexing, his fingers seem to be fidgeting against the skin of her throat and jaw. “I had this dream, Betty, and it was so real. It’s unlike anything else you’ll ever experience. I could feel it -like really  _feel_ it all- as it was happening. They say it’ll be like you’re right there in the moment but they don’t come close to the reality of it.”

 _That sounds beautiful,_ Betty thinks as another tear slides down her cheek. It’s something she always wanted for herself.  

“I’d never seen her before but I think she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen.”

She recoils from him. The need to lash out and push him away from her is almost so overwhelming that she misses the first part of his next words.

“-blonde hair and green eyes, and we were happy in that dream,  _so_ happy. And I’d never seen her, never met her, I had no idea who she was. But then,” his words catch in his throat and he smiles at her, “I turned around and there she was. Right in front of me.”

Betty’s entire body feels like it’s on fire. Remembering the first time she’d laid eyes on him.

_Handsome, she notices immediately. Dark hair and blue eyes. And staring at her like he’s never seen a human being before._

Remembering parts of their conversation that day.

_“Are you nervous to start a new school?”_

_Clearing his throat, Jughead shakes his head. “Not really. I just had a weird morning.”_

“What?” she breathes out, fists clenching, unsure that she’s just heard what he’s said. “What did you just say?”

Tucking a piece of hair that had come loose behind her ear, he smiles at her. “You can’t be a scenic route, Betty, not when you’re the destination.”

She breaks at his words, sobbing as he pulls her into his arms, holding her tightly to him. Her arms come around him, digging into his shoulder blades as he murmurs apologies for not telling her sooner, how he didn’t know how to get it out, the guilt of knowing who she was to him when she didn’t.

Betty is crying against his chest, his arms tightening as she grips him tighter. She feels herself being lifted off the ground as he picks her up and carries her to the old plaid sofa that lines one of the walls of the Blue and Gold. Sitting them both down is a challenge but he manages, with her legs outside his as she settles in his lap, her face tucked into the curve of his neck.

Sniffling, she lets herself rest further against him. “You’re so dumb.”

“That’s true,” he agrees, “but I like to think that just means as my much smarter half, you’ll help it even itself out in the end.”

Huffing a pained laugh into his collar, she’s tracing random patterns on the back of his neck, sending a shiver through him. “You should have just told me.”

Jughead breathes in deeply and she can feel him nodding. “I wanted to know if you could like me for me, not because of what you are to me.”

She understands that. If she’s honest with herself that’s the way she’d feel about it too. But that also leaves her open to the thought that that’s why he likes her.

Sitting back, wiping her eyes as she takes in his face, his eyes are still a bit red but he’s looking at her so softly.

“How is that different for you? You never knew me before so how can you say you like me outside of the dreams influence?”

“I feel the emotions as I’m dreaming,” he starts, “but they fade a while after I wake up. They’re not constant. I remember them, yeah, like a memory feels but in the moment? When I’m with you? It’s so much better than dreams of what  _could_  happen.”

“You don’t think that influences you?” she asks, skeptical. “You’re telling me you thought I’d be influenced just by knowing but you’re not and you’re the one experiencing the dreams?”

“I’m saying that the universe says you’re made for me and I agree with it,” he tells her solemnly. “Even without the dreams, I know I’d still want you, Betty.”

“We barely know each other,” Betty says quietly, eyes turned down as she picks at a thread on the sleeve of the flannel tied around his waist that was bunched up between them. “There’s a lot you don’t know about-”

“I can say the same thing, you know,” he interrupts softly. “I think we can agree there’s a lot we don’t know about each other.”

“Maybe-” Betty sighs in frustration, “-maybe we should do that first before anything else?”

Closing his eyes and letting his head fall back against the sofa cushions, his fingers digging lightly into the outsides of her thighs, he groans loudly. “I did this to myself, I know that. But I want you to know that not kissing you right now is taking all of my willpower.”

Grinning to herself, Betty bites her lip as she watches his pained expression. Opening his eyes, he sees her amused expression.

“Are you laughing at me?”

“No,” she tells him primly. “I am very obviously trying not to laugh at you for being dramatic.”

“Me?” he gasps with fake offense. “Dramatic?”

She’s smiling at him, the reality of their situation starting to hit her when he pulls her into a hug, arms holding her to him, her face buried in the curve of his neck.

“It’s a lot, I know,” he murmurs to her, stroking a hand over her hair.

“Aren’t you worried-”

“That you won’t dream of me?” he finishes for her. “Terrified of it, actually.”

“But you still want to-”

“Date the hell out of you?”

Betty curls in closer to him, taking in the scent of him. “Yeah.”

Feeling his breath ghosting over her shoulder as he buries his head into her hair, she shivers and twists her fingers into his t-shirt. He’s quiet for long enough that she thinks he’s not going to answer and she’s on the edge of sleep when the sound of his voice pulls her eyes back open.

“I want everything with you, Betty.”

That’s the last thing either of them say before she falls into an emotionally exhausted sleep, his arms around her making her feel safer than she can remember feeling in what feels like forever.

 

* * *

 

“I don’t think it worked, Ronnie. I brought up everything you told me to.”

Veronica is staring at the napping couple through the small window in the newspaper office door. Pulling at her necklace, she’s biting her lip in frustration. “Obviously, Archiekins.”

Archie lets the sarcasm roll off of his back. “Why are you trying to help me anyway, I thought you didn’t want me and Betty together?”

Veronica’s eyes snap to Archie, glaring at him. “I’m not trying to help you, Archibald. I’m trying to stop Betty from getting hurt.”

“By Jughead?”

“Yes,” she hisses out as she pushes past him, heels clicking angrily down the hallway.

She can hear the tread of his sneakers as he catches up to her.

“Not that I want them to date but why do you think he’s going to hurt her?”

Stopping to spin around and face him, she almost rubs her eyes in frustration until she remembers her makeup. Pulling her hands away from her face and running them down her dress instead, smoothing it, she narrows her gaze at Archie. “He’s bad news, okay? I just know it.”

Archie’s looking at her with concern when he reaches out to touch her shoulder. “Hey, Ronnie, you’re not, like, you know, in love with Betty or something, right? I mean, if you are-”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Archie!” Veronica exclaims. “Do you doubt my ability to get what I want? If I had wanted to date my Bettykins, I would have locked that down years ago. I am trying to stop her from getting her heart broken!”

“How do you know-”

“He’s a Jones, isn’t he?” she interjects in a shrill voice. “Or did you already forget who FP Jones is?”

“Wait, FP Jones is his dad?” Archie asks, confused.

Rolling her eyes, Veronica gives him a sharp nod. “What did you think the FP in FP Jones stood for if not Forsythe Pendleton?”

Shrugging at her, Archie looks unconcerned.

“Betty doesn’t deserve to be hurt by the likes of a Jones, Archie. I don’t want to see it happen.”

“So,” Archie starts, “does that mean you aren’t going to help me win her over?”

Veronica crosses her arms and looks to the ceiling, taking a deep breath. “Betty isn’t your soulmate, Archiekins. Stop trying to make the narrative in your head happen because you’ve run out of girls to date.”

“What’s a narrative?”

Almost laughing, she shakes her head. “Nevermind. Just -Archie, you know I’ll always care about you, right?”

Nodding, Archie waits for her to finish.

“Then take my advice, find a girl who’s actually interested in you, okay? You’re not a bad guy, but Betty? She’s just not that into you.”

His shoulders slump at her words. “But she’s so perfect and my best friend-”

“She’s not perfect,” Veronica interrupts him gently. “She’s actually sort of a mess. We all are but you keep looking at her like she can solve all your problems and she can’t. You have to do that on your own, Archiekins.”

Archie looks defeated and she feels a stab of guilt but it’s for his own good.

“Why do you think Jughead likes Betty?”

“What?”

“You’ve seen how they are with each other, what is it you think is pulling them together?”

Archie stares past her shoulder as he thinks about it. “He joined the newspaper. They seem to talk about books a lot. Movies? She told me he’s a writer, so like, writing stuff? Maybe she thinks he’s funny? She laughs a lot around him.”

“Do you and Betty do those things? Or are you best friends because you’ve always been friends and expect to always be friends?” Veronica asks him in a gentle tone.

“But you don’t want him to date Betty either,” Archie protests.

Veronica raises an eyebrow at him. “Of course I don’t but I can see why she’d pick him over the guy who ignored her until he ran out of other options. He showed up and he’s interested in her, he talks to her, he isn’t chasing every girl that gives him a second look.”

Archie flushes at that. “Ronnie-”

“Archie, I know we didn’t work out and that’s okay. You’re a good guy and I think you can make some girl really happy, I do. But I really doubt it’s going to be Betty.”

Sighing, Archie gives her a sad nod. “Yeah, you’re probably right. But what are you gonna do about Jughead?”

“I’m not going to sabotage their relationship,” Veronica tells him seriously. “If they’re determined to be together then I’ll just have to be there for Betty when and if it falls apart." 

"And you think it's going to fall apart?" 

Veronica's sad eyes meet Archie's curious ones. "I hope not but I don't trust him yet." 

 

* * *

 

Waking up with Betty a few days previously had been more than Jughead had expected after telling her the truth.

_A mouthful of blonde hair has him confused as he tries to process where he is. Mostly comfortable, he feels the warm weight of Betty laying partially on top of him. Pulling the hair out of his mouth, he looks around trying to figure out how to get up without waking her up._

_When he realizes that’s probably not going to happen, he adjusts himself so she’s more to the side of him, his arm wrapped around her shoulder as he starts to smile._

_He told her. It almost went sideways, yes, but in the end the truth came out and his soulmate was laying down next to him even if things were a little more complicated than they were that morning._

_Unsure of how much time passes as he lays there, he feels Betty start to move as she wakes up, can feel her stretching against him as she sleepily opens her eyes as she wipes the little bit of drool off her cheek._

_He thinks she’s adorable but she blushes brightly as she realizes what she’s doing._

_“Hi,” he says to her in an almost whisper._

_“Hi.” She’s pushing herself up and off of him, sitting back on her knees as she responds._

_Throwing his own legs over the edge of the sofa, sitting upright next to her, he turns his head to glance over at her._

_“I was thinking,” he tells her, “as you were drooling all over my shirt-”_

_“I was not!”_

_“As I was saying, I was thinking as you were not at all drooling all over my shirt and we should solve the mystery of the wet spot that appears after sleeping that maybe we should go out Friday night.”_

_Betty smiles at him, looking slightly nervous. “Like a date?”_

_“Definitely a date,” Jughead confirms, reaching for her hand, intertwining their fingers. “Would it be weird to go to the drive-in Ethel was talking about?”_

_“The Twilight?”_

_“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I can borrow my dad’s truck and we can maybe watch a movie without Archie and Veronica interrupting us?”_

_“Sure, that sounds like fun, Jug.”_

Standing nervously by the truck outside of some place called Pop’s he’s waiting for Betty, having offered to pick her up at her house but she’d quickly declined, telling him to meet her at the local diner instead and they’d drive from there.

He’s only been waiting about five minutes when he sees her walking towards him, smiling brightly as she approaches.

“Hey, you ready?” she asks, breathless from the chill in the air.

It’s the first time he’s seen her with her hair down outside of his dreams and he can’t stop staring. “You look beautiful.”

Betty bites back a laugh at his response. “So do you.”

She’s just wearing jeans he’s sure he’s seen before and the pink coat he thinks might be one of her favorites by how often he sees her wear it.

Clearing his throat, he rubs the back of his neck as he says, “Shall we?”

Opening the truck door for her, he makes sure she’s all the way in before shutting and heading to the driver’s side, praying the door handle doesn’t stick too bad this time and that the damn thing starts without a problem.

Turning the key, it starts but sounds like it’s protesting and he can see Betty wince on her side of the bench seat.

A little embarrassed, Jughead turns to apologize for the truck when she cuts him off before he can get a word out.

“What are you doing to this poor truck, Jug? When’s the last time she had her spark plugs changed? Have you or your dad looked for a vacuum leak?” Looking behind her, she stares out the back window for a second before turning back to him. “I don’t see any black smoke so I don’t think it’s a carburetor problem. Maybe a dirty fuel injector?”

He’s staring at her, he knows, with his mouth hanging open and in awe of whatever the hell it is that she said.

“Jug?” she asks, looking concerned. “Are you okay?”

“I have no idea what you said but I want to hear you say it some more,” he tells her in a low tone, making her blush and bite her lip.

She offers to look at it “sooner rather than later, Jughead, or you could do permanent damage to her” on the drive to the Twilight and he falls in love with it immediately. The big white screen, the grassy lot for cars to park on, the old wooden building that houses the projector room and concession stand.

He must be wearing his thoughts on his face because Betty leans over the seat to snap her fingers in front of his face to get his attention.

“Earth to Jughead.”

“Sorry, it’s just so-” he lets the thought fade as he looks around some more.

“I’m happy you like it, it’s one of my favorite places,” Betty says, covering his hand with hers. “Come on, we better get in line for popcorn if you want it to be fresh.”

Pulling him across the seat and out of the passenger door he makes it out without tripping but just barely. Laughing at her as she drags him across the grass to the concession stand he’s tugging back on her to get her to slow down so he doesn’t land face first into the ground as he’s trying to take it all in.

Digging his feet into the ground he just stands still, holding onto her hand as she keeps walking until she stops suddenly, spinning to look at him and his amused face.

“What are you doing?” she asks, huffing as she yanks on his hand to get him moving.

“Come here,” he tells her, pulling her towards him. When she rolls her eyes but walks back to him, he slips his fingers through hers before wrapping his arm around her shoulders, tucking her into his side as they continue their trek to the concession stand.

When Betty lays her head against his shoulder as they’re walking, he squeezes her a little tighter, thankful that his mom sent him to his dad. Even if he’s almost never around. He still misses Jellybean every day, even though he talks to her as much as he can.

Making their way to the line, they spot a few kids from Riverdale High, some adults with families in tow, and much to his chagrin, Veronica, Archie, and someone he’s not seen before.

“Kevin!” Betty yells into his ear, making him wince with the volume of it. Untangling herself from Jughead she throws herself into the guy’s -Kevin’s- arms, hugging him tightly. Trying not to feel mildly uncomfortable by the affectionate display Betty is putting on with some random well dressed guy he just furrows his brows and buries the urge to peel her off of him.

Once she lets go of him, she grabs him by the hand and leads him to Jughead, a sly smile on his face as he takes him in, from his scuffed boots to the woolen hat on his head. Feeling like he’s under a microscope he’s trying not to bristle at the once over so he focuses on Betty instead.

She’s happy and smiling and talking to Kevin a mile a minute as they reach Jughead, Betty hanging onto Kevin’s arm as she makes introductions.

“Kev, this is Jughead, remember I told you about him on the phone last week?”

_Talking to me about people, were you? Nice._

“Oh, B, I remember all about Jughead here,” Kevin answers while keeping his eyes on Jughead. “It’s nice to meet you, Jughead.”

He doesn’t really know what to do other than give Kevin the universal chin jerk acknowledgment all guys give each other before realizing he should probably say something.

“Hey, man.”

 _Wow, you could not sound more like an idiot,_ he thinks, barely keeping in a grimace at his own stupidity.

“So, you’re the one that had our Betty smitten from day one? I can see why,” Kevin informs him, making his eyes widen. “Oh don’t worry, I’m a taken man.”

_I shouldn’t be relieved by that news, that makes me such a dick. Nope, can’t control it, I am so relieved by that information._

Betty is a bright shade of embarrassed from what Kevin implied, he can tell, but she rolls her eyes at him anyway. “Kevin’s been gone visiting his mom out of state since he couldn’t go over the summer. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back today?!”

“I wanted to surprise you.”

“You did,” Betty tells him, giving him another hug before stepping away from him and back to Jughead’s side. “Are you sitting with V and Archie?”

Kevin raises an eyebrow at how easily Jughead’s arm settles back around her shoulders before replying. “Mmhmm. And Moose. You know how he’s always late.”

Nodding, Betty smiles as Kevin tells her he’ll see her later and gives Jughead another considering glance before turning around to head back to Veronica and Archie who were pretending not to watch the entire interaction.

“How did I not know about Kevin?” Jughead asks her, gazing down into her upturned face.

Betty shrugs. “I guess he just didn’t come up? It’s not like we talk about Archie or Veronica all that much when we’re together either.”

“For which I am eternally grateful,” he says, deadpan. Grunting at the elbow Betty digs into his ribs, he pulls her in closer, kissing her temple in apology. “I’ll try harder, I promise.”

“Thank you.”

By the time they make it back to the truck with their snacks the movie was starting and they rush to climb in and get comfortable with the popcorn between them, the drinks perched carefully on the dashboard and candy he insisted on shoved in his jacket pocket.

“Do they only play old movies in this town?” he asks as another classic begins to play on the screen. “Not that I’m complaining-”

“I have no idea,” Betty answers. “It’s probably just cheaper to run these than new releases.”

Nodding, Jughead accepts the answer and manages to ignore Betty’s proximity to him for almost the entire movie, actually watching it and enjoying it with her. Talking about everything and anything that came to their minds as they share the popcorn, Jughead trying to catch pieces of it in his mouth as Betty laughs every time he misses.

Which is often.

By the end of the movie, the half empty popcorn bucket is on the floorboards by Betty’s feet, the drinks are empty and Jughead’s decided to save his candy for later.

“Did you have fun?” he asks her, watching her face in the glowing lights of the credits playing on the screen.

Scooting over to the middle of the bench seat, Betty is sitting turned to mostly face him. “I did. I had a lot of fun, Jug. Thank you for bringing me here.”

She’s leaning over to kiss his cheek when he remembers what it was like to almost feel her lips on his. The silky sensation of the hint of her lips against his skin from a few days before, haunting him almost as much as the last dream he had about her. Maybe more so. He knows - _knows_ \- if he doesn’t stop himself immediately he’s going to kiss her.

 _Control yourself, moron,_ is what the smart part of his brain says. The other part, the bigger part, is screaming at him to  _just fucking do it, what kind of idiot passes up an opportunity like this?_

It feels like slow motion as he turns his head right before her lips land on his cheek, his body twisting towards her as he reaches up to cup her cheeks in his hands as their lips meet for the first time.

He can feel her breath catch as he does it, the slight sucking of air as her lips part slightly in surprise. He pulls her lower lip between his, a soft nipping as his hands pulls her face closer to him. Her hands are somewhere on his chest, fingers twisted in the fabric of his jacket as she responds to him.

The low groan that comes from him at her tongue slipping along his lower lip has him tangling a hand into her hair. The soft slide of his tongue against hers has her moving until she’s climbed into his lap, her own hands moving up into his hair and he can feel his beanie being pushed off and falling onto the seat next to him.

One of his hands goes around her back, pushing her further into his lap, lips already becoming swollen from their kisses.

He doesn’t know how long they continue like that, he doesn’t notice anything outside of the girl in front of him until he moves his mouth along her jawline to gently pull her earlobe between his teeth, making her shiver and tighten her grip on his hair. He’s about to move to kiss down the length of her neck when he sees it’s pitch black outside of the truck windows.

Breaking away from her, he sits back, breathing heavily. He can’t see her features clearly in the dark but if he had to guess, he’d say her eyes are as hooded as his and her lips just as swollen.

“What time is it?” she asks, sounding just as breathless as he knows he is.

Jughead fishes his phone out of his pocket, wincing at the bright glare of the screen. “Not too late but still sort of late.”

Huffing a laugh at his non-answer, she climbs off of his lap and sit back into the passenger side of the truck. “I should probably get home.”

“Or,” he starts, moving over to where she’s sitting, placing soft kisses against her throat, “we can do this for ten more minutes.”

Her loan moan of approval is the permission he’s looking for and he slides his hands back into her hair, tugging her down under him and laying her out on the long seat of the truck as he makes his way across her collarbone with small biting kisses, working his way back up to her ear then her mouth, pressing his lips against hers.

“Just ten minutes, though,” Betty murmurs against his mouth as he nods in agreement before slipping his tongue along hers once more.

Thirty minutes later, they finally come up for air.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT SHIT RIGHT THERE? 
> 
> That's right, Jug. Get it. Mmhmm. Also bench seats in old trucks are actually pretty comfy make out spots. Not that I would know. I am as pure as the driven snow. Obviously. Duh. 
> 
> I hope you all had a Merry Happy Holiday If You Celebrate That Sort Of Shit! I am still tired from Christmas tbh and also the mister is still a terrible gift giver but we love him anyway. 
> 
> He tries. He really does. But, also, he never tells me no and turns my bedside lamp on so I don't have to run full speed to the bed at night to avoid the demons I'm pretty sure are under the bed. Thank you terrible movie, Little Monsters, for traumatizing me as a young and bright eyed girl. 
> 
> ANWAYS, thank you guys for your comments! I loved reading them and getting them and that's how you get 5k more words in, like, 3 days from me. I'm weak like that. Besos to you all! 
> 
> As always, you can [tumble](https://thetaoofbetty.tumblr.com/) with me if you want.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is me, throwing this chapter at you before running off to bed. 
> 
> Because I wake up before the sun. 
> 
> Five days a week. 
> 
> Tragic, I know. 
> 
> READ ON, GOBLINS OF DELIGHT!

“You’re not really dating the new kid are you, Baby Coop?” Reggie asks, leaning against the locker next to hers. “You know, if you’re looking for a good time-”

“I’ll be sure to call Jughead and ask him to show me one,” Betty interrupts. “Why are you pretending to be interested in me, anyway? Veronica’s not going to get jealous if you keep trying to get in my pants. I know that the media likes to tell boys like you that girls are catty and shallow and competitive with each other but, Reggie, the only people that think women are actually like that? Are the men who write and try to sell them that way.”

Reggie stares at her with wide eyes. “So what’re you saying?”

Betty sighs and spins to face him, leaning on her shoulder against the locker. “Reggie. You like Veronica. Everyone knows it and trying to make her jealous by acting like the rest of the female population finds you irresistible just makes you look like, well, an indiscriminate man-whore.”

“Hey,” he protests, “I am very discriminate!”

“Really?” Betty smirks. “Are you forgetting the time you tried to take home one of Pop’s waitresses when you saw Veronica on a date with someone else and she turned you down because she had plans with her grandchildren?”

“Say what you will, Cooper, but I’m pretty sure she was into the Regmeister.”

Laughing, Betty sticks her English book into her bag so she can use it for homework over the weekend. “Yeah, if the word ‘Regmeister’ is code for knitting. Just, Reggie, stop pretending to be interested in anything that owns a vagina and show Veronica that you actually like her for more than what’s under her clothes.”

“Is that how Jones won you over?” he asks seriously.

Betty almost feels bad for him. Everyone is aware just how bad he’s got it for Veronica but if there’s one thing Veronica Lodge doesn’t do it’s exclusively date boys who think they’re doing the world a favor by simply existing.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Veronica’s voice says from behind Betty. “I’m pretty sure he’s going to be thrilled with what’s under our Betty’s clothes if he should be so lucky to get to see it.”

Turning around with a smile, Betty takes Veronica’s hand and starts to walk away, leaving a baffled Reggie Mantle behind.

“Good morning, B,” Veronica says. “Reggie bothering you again?”

Rolling her eyes at the game those two have been playing for at least a year she shakes her head. “Just being himself is all.”

“Ah, so totally annoying?”

“Yes.”

Veronica scoffs. “No more boy talk. They’re a waste of my energy today and do you know why?”

“Why’s that?”

“Because we’re going out tonight. Just you, me, and Kevin. It’s Friday and I graciously allowed Jughead to have you last weekend so this weekend, you’re mine.”

“Veronica, I’m not sure my mom will let me-”

“Don’t you worry about the she-beast, Betty-bee, that’s what my mom is for,” Veronica interjects.

“I wonder what dirt your mom has on my mom that makes her give in so easily?” Betty wonders, adjusting her bag over her shoulder as they walk to the locker room.

Giving her a tight-lipped smile, Veronica just shrugs as they make their way through the double doors and they set their bags on one of the benches, Betty watching as Veronica takes off her pearls, handing them to her before unzipping the side of her dress.

“Are you sure you don’t want to join the squad again?” Veronica asks, slipping her Vixen top over her head and grabbing the skirt before kicking off her heels and grabbing her cheer shoes.

“I only ever wanted to be a Vixen for college applications and since they’re all done, I can spend more time on the stuff I actually want to do,” Betty replies with shrug.

“Yeah, but Cheryl’s gone this year so it’s not like she can still torture you from college,” she tells Betty as she shimmies into the little blue spandex shorts that go under her skirt.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Betty mutters, playing with the string of pearls still in her hand.

Huffing a laugh, Veronica reaches for the necklace, putting it and her bag into her locker before turning back around to Betty. “You know, it’s sort of a shame Jughead will never see you in your Vixen uniform.”

“I don’t think he’d care, V,” Betty says, rolling her eyes.

Arching a brow at her, she crosses her arms. “He’s a guy isn’t he? Does he know you used to be a cheerleader?”

Shaking her head, Betty gives her a look. “No.”

“Tell him,” Veronica demands, eyes lighting up. “I’ll pick you up later, okay? Pack a bag for at least tonight.”

“Sure, sure,” Betty mumbles, grabbing her bag and making her way back out of the locker room and heading toward the Blue and Gold.

Pushing her way through the door, she sees Jughead leaning back in his chair, trying to shoot the ceiling with a pen by using a rubber band as a slingshot.

“Hit your target yet?” she asks, startling him and making him jolt upright, his hat falling to the floor as the pen comes down, hitting him on the top of his head.

Wincing at the impact, she hurries over to him to check for an injury, running her fingers through his hair and feeling for any cuts or bumps. She’s not finding anything when she feels his hands settle on her hips, his head falling forward to rest on her stomach.

“Seriously?” She tilts his head back and he’s trying to hide a smile that keeps peeking through at the attention she’s giving him.

“Hey,” he starts, “you’re the one putting your hands in my hair.”

“Because I thought you were hurt!”

She can feel his shrug as he stares up into her face, the smirk finally breaking through completely. “I could have been. Pens are pointy, you know.”

“So’s this,” she announces, flicking him lightly in the nose with a sweet smile.

Sighing dramatically, he leans back into the chair again, pulling her into his lap. “This violence, Betty, was not in the soulmate brochure.”

“Sadly it’s just a perk of having me as one,” she teases, settling herself sideways on his thighs and wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

“I’ll take it,” he tells her. “I was thinking this weekend-”

“Before you say anything, you should know I’m spending tonight with Veronica,” she interjects, fingers playing with the ends of his hair.

Clearing his throat, he just huffs. “As I was saying before being so rudely interrupted by my violent and pushy girlfriend -wait, you are my girlfriend, aren’t you?”

Laughing, Betty nods at him. “Yes, I consider myself your girlfriend.”

“And...” he says, trailing off.

“Yes?” Betty asks innocently.

“And I’m your boyfriend, right?”

Pretending to consider it, she bites her lip as she takes in his face. It’s two parts amused and one part concerned when she finally lifts a shoulder and sighs. “I suppose you’ll do.”

She can tell he’s biting back a sarcastic comment by the look on his face when he reaches up, wrapping his hand around the back of her neck, gently pulling her until he can press his lips to hers in a soft kiss.

“So, you were saying something about Veronica?” he asks when he pulls back, letting his hand slip slowly from her neck, trailing fingers across her collarbone.

Ignoring the shiver he sends through her, she sits up straighter. “Yeah, I’m staying at hers tonight. Probably with Kevin too.”

“Going out?”

“I think so. Knowing Veronica it’s a definite yes.”

Running the palm of his hand over her hip he smirks at her. “What will it take to get you to send me pictures of whatever it is you’re gonna wear?”

“What?” she asks with a laugh.

“I think,” he murmurs into her ear as he leans closer to her, “that if you’re going to deprive me of your company and force me into loneliness on this, the one week anniversary of our first date, that you should at least send me a picture of you before you go out to keep me company.”

“One week anniversary of our first date?” she questions skeptically.

Jughead shrugs. “Worth a shot.”

“Go to Pop’s, get some writing done, text me all of your pretentious thoughts-”

“Pretentious?”

“Pretentious.”

“Fine, but those burgers better be worth their reputation, Betty,” he states. “And please let me know when you get home, okay? Just so I know you’re safe.”

Smiling fondly at his concern she just gives him a nod before asking, “What did you want me for this weekend?”

Groaning, Jughead lets his head fall back before playfully glaring at her. “That’s just wrong, Betty, to let my mind go there before what’s looking to be my very open weekend.”

Betty laughs at his overreaction, shrugging at him. “You’ll be alright, I’m sure.”

“I was going to ask you to help me with my dad’s truck if you were up for it, I’m no good with engines but I am  _very_  handy at handing wrenches to pretty blondes who do know what they’re doing.”

Leaning into him, she continues playing with the ends of his hair, sending a visible shiver through him. “I’m spending the night with Veronica, she’s not locking me into a tower. I can come by tomorrow afternoon or Sunday morning.”

Jughead has his eyes closed as she continues to drag her fingers through the back of his hair. “I’m not going to pretend I don’t want to see you as soon as I can but I am going to maintain my dignity and not beg you to come over tomorrow afternoon.”

“Beg, huh?” she whispers into his ear. “Now that-”

“Don’t start something you’re not gonna finish,” he interrupts in a firm tone that does something to her insides, making them flip.

She thinks he can see it in her eyes by the satisfied look he gives her. Swallowing her retort she changes the subject to get her own mind out of the gutter.

“Do you think we should tell anyone about the whole soulmate thing?”

If he’s surprised by her question, he hides it well. “That depends. Do you want want to tell people?”

Lifting a shoulder in a half shrug, she starts picking at the sleeve of his shirt. “I don’t not want to tell anyone but I don’t know, I feel like that’s a lot of pressure to put on the both of us before my birthday.”

She feels his arms come around her, pulling her into his chest as he rests his chin on her shoulder.

“We don’t have to tell anyone anything, it’s no one’s business but ours.”

“I feel weird not telling Veronica.”

“It’s up to you, Betty,” he tells her softly. “Hey, maybe it’ll make her hate me less?”

Eyes welling with tears, she buries her face into his shoulder, trying to fight back the worry of people knowing, of people not knowing, of the possibility he’s not her soulmate, of when Jughead figures out just how messed up her family is, if it makes him run away from her, just all of it.

“Hey,” he says, tightening his arms around her, “it’ll be okay. Worse case scenario is that you don’t have any dreams and then I just have to keep chasing you down anyway.”

Huffing a laugh into the skin of his neck she grips the back of his shirt as she tightens her hold on him. “You can’t chase someone who isn’t running, Jug.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” he declares, kissing her temple.

The sound of the door being thrown open makes her jump, her nails accidentally digging into Jughead’s shoulder, making him wince as she spins to look at who’s coming in.

“You better be decent,” Kevin yells as he walks in, hand over his eyes. “I don’t want my innocence to be tarnished.”

“Oh my god, Kev,” Betty breathes out. “You scared me.”

“Good,” he replies, peeking through his fingers. “I didn’t want to come across some sort of gross moment between the two of you.”

“Gross?” Jughead questions. “Really?”

“Vaginas are gross, my friend,” Kevin responds flippantly, shrugging.

“Agree to disagree,” Jughead says with a raised eyebrow.

Kevin mimes gagging as Jughead laughs and Betty’s staring at them both with wide eyes, disbelief crossing her features.

“Betty, I’ve been sent here by our effervescent friend so I can take you to pack a bag and also veto anything that’s been declared as too long, too high, or too Mama Cooper,” Kevin informs her with a clap of his hands. “So, let your shiny new boy toy go and let’s get a move on.”

“Now I definitely want pictures,” Jughead whispers to her as she sighs, getting ready to move off of his lap. He stops her before she’s all the way up with a hand wrapped around her neck, bringing her face to him as he sits up, pressing a kiss to her lips, smiling into her mouth as she quietly gasps at the action.

“Come on, lovebirds, I have dresses to veto,” Kevin tells them impatiently.

Rolling her eyes, she stands up and glances at Jughead as she straightens her shirt. “I’ll text you later.”

“You better,” he says, tugging on her fingers with a smile as she moves to grab her bag and follow Kevin out of the Blue and Gold.

“Oh, and Jughead?” Kevin calls back to him as soon as she’s past him and into the hallway. “You might want to look in the third filing cabinet closest to the door, second drawer down in the file, River Vixens.”

Betty looks at him in confusion as he takes her hand and leads her down the hallway and out across the school campus.

“What was that for?” she asks.

“I’m just doing Jughead a little favor.”

 

* * *

 

He’s not entirely sure he should follow Kevin’s instructions but he’s too curious after a few minutes of deliberation. Staring at the filing cabinet he heaves out a breath before pushing himself out of the chair and heading over to it, pulling out the second drawer.

Looking through the files, he sees that they’re pictures of each school team for the previous year. Flipping through until he gets to the folder labeled River Vixens, he pulls it out and opens it, raising an eyebrow at the idea that Kevin thinks he wants to look through a bunch of pictures of cheerleaders.

That is until he recognizes a blonde ponytail in one of the pictures.

 _Oh god,_ he thinks.  _Thank you, Kevin, you are my new hero._

He goes through them at a slower pace until he sees one of just Betty, smiling and happy, waving blue and gold pom-poms, mid high kick. He knows she’s not a cheerleader this year and while part of him wonders why, the other part of him mostly wants to know if she’s still got that little skirt.

If asked, he decides, he’s going to lie about the fact that he’s definitely taking that picture home with him and putting it in the drawer of his bedside table.

Later that night, when he’s sitting in a Pop’s booth with one of the best burgers he’s ever eaten with a milkshake sitting off to the side, and the promise from Pop of bottomless coffee when he’s done eating that he realizes Archie Andrews is sitting at the counter, staring at him.

Sighing, he closes his eyes for a second before shrugging at him, gesturing to the empty seat across from him.

Archie takes a second, biting a thumbnail in deliberation before walking over and sliding into the booth.

Wiping his hand on a napkin, Jughead glances at Archie, seeing that he looks vaguely nervous. “So, Andrews, what’s up?”

“Look, man,” he starts, drumming his fingers on the table, “I know I’ve been-”

“A prick?” Jughead interjects helpfully.

Archie nods at him. “Yeah. I got it into my head that Betty and I should be together.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?”

Jughead grabs a fry off of his plate and takes a bite as he thinks about what he’s going to say. “I mean why would you assume you and Betty are meant to be when you had no interest in her when she had any in you?”

Flushing, Archie gives him a strained smile. “She told you about that?”

“Yup,” he confirms, taking another bite of food.

“Betty and I have been best friends since we were, like, four? Maybe five? She’s great, she’s pretty perfect, you know?”

“Great? Yeah, she’s the best. But perfect? Nah-”

“Shouldn’t you be the one person agreeing with me on that?” Archie interrupts, narrowing his eyes at Jughead.

“No, because Betty isn’t perfect. Perfection is  _boring,_  Andrews. And Betty? Is anything but boring.”

Slouching back into the booth, Archie looks contemplative while Jughead starts to finish his burger.

“I just thought,” Archie says after a few moments, “that we’d always end up together. And I love her-”

“But,” Jughead cuts in, “are you in love with her? Because those are two very different things.”

Archie’s mouth twisting as he furrows his eyebrows, he stares at the table in front of him before answering. “I don’t think so. I’m not even sure I know what the difference is. Are you in love with her?”

Jughead reaches for his shake with a lifted shoulder. “No matter how I feel, I’m not telling you before I tell her.”

Archie accepts that with a nod, leaning back further against the red vinyl of the booth. “Hey, man, I’m sorry about the stuff I said but Ronnie-”

“Veronica told you to say that?” Jughead interrupts, his voice sharp.

His face twisting in regret, Archie exhales loudly before sitting up and leaning his elbows on the tabletop.

“Is that why she hates me, then?” Jughead asks. “Because she wants you and Betty to live happily ever after?”

A laugh bursts out of Archie. “No way. Ronnie has been telling me to leave Betty alone for weeks.”

“Then why try and help you?”

The grimace that crosses Archie’s face has Jughead narrowing his eyes at him.

“That’s something you’re gonna have to get out of Ronnie, man. It’s not my story to tell.”

Jughead’s confusion is getting worse by the second. He’s never particularly cared if Archie or Veronica liked him. Or even if they liked him with Betty. Their opinions aren’t the one he’s worried about but now his curiosity is getting the better of him.

“How could there even be any story to tell? I’ve never even met her until I met Betty.”

Archie just stares at him like he wants to say something but doesn’t want to upset Veronica Lodge. Sighing, he starts tapping his fingers on the table again before moving to get out of the booth. Standing next to the table, he glances down at Jughead.

“Jones, don’t tell Ronnie I’m telling you this, okay? But you should talk to your dad about it.”

“My dad?”

“Yeah,” he answers with a slight shrug. “And I’m sorry for trying to get between you and Betty. But, I’m telling you now, if she’s my soulmate, I’m gonna go for it.”

Jughead smirks at him, amused. “Now that? That is something I can understand, Andrews.”

Archie just gives him a confused look before heading out the diner doors and into the parking lot, Jughead watching as he jumps into an old truck and driving off.

He’s got no idea why his dad would know anything about Veronica Lodge or her dislike of him and while he doesn’t necessarily care, he is curious. Having your girlfriend’s best friend hate you isn’t ideal, he knows. Not wanting to put Betty in the middle of anything, he tells himself he’ll ask his dad the next time he sees him.

Whenever that might be. 

 

* * *

 

_“What do you want, Betty?” he asks as he hears her footsteps approaching him from behind. He doesn’t know how she knew to find him out by the river, frozen and unforgiving in the winter air._

_Her voice is soft and sad. “I want you to listen to me.”_

_“Don’t you think we’ve said enough?”_

_Her shaky and breathy exhale is loud in the silence between them. “I wasn’t trying to keep you from them, Juggie, I promise.”_

_“Then what were you doing? Protecting me?” he asks, derisive._

_Betty is standing next to him, fingers intertwined in front of her. “Yes.”_

_“Or protecting yourself?”_

_“What would I be protecting myself from?” Betty’s confusion is clear in her voice._

_Jughead sighs, his head dropping back as he turns his face up to the sun. “I don’t know, Betty. Your shame of dating someone who lives in a trailer from the Southside? That I’m not some Archie Andrews clone-”_

_“Jughead!” Betty’s yell shocks him and he turns his head to look at her._

_She’s visibly struggling not to cry at his accusations and the guilt feels like a punch to the gut. Not giving her the benefit of the doubt is a new feeling for him but he can’t seem to help himself._

_“Then what is it, Betty?” he asks tiredly._

_“I know I should have told you,” she starts, “I do. I was going to, I swear-”_

_“Tell me what?”_

_“But you have to believe me that I don’t care about where you live or where you come from, Jug,” she continues as if he hadn’t cut her off. “I’m not worried about how much money you have, I’ve got plenty of my own and if you’re willing to listen, I promise to tell you everything.”_

_“Everything?”_

_Betty nods at him, her eyes watering as she keeps trying and failing to meet his eyes. “If you -if after- you don’t want-” she cuts herself off with a whimper, wiping her eyes, staring at the ground._

_“Hey,” he says, putting a hand on her shoulder, “look at me.”_

_Jughead’s never seen her this upset, not even when he admitted she was his soulmate. His own fury and hurt are pushed aside when she still refuses to look at him as he takes her in his arms._

_“Betty,” he breathes out into her hair. “Come on, what could be bad enough-”_

_Her sobs break through, drowning out the rest of his words and his breath catches as she finally gazes up at him, her eyes rimmed red from crying and her face twisted in anguish._

_“Juggie-”_

The alarm shocks him out of his dream, this one leaving no lingering feelings of arousal or happiness, nothing but a mixture of guilt and apprehension. Remembering the pain on her face, the anger that had been swirling in his own head, the frustration of not knowing what Betty was going to tell him- it all feels like a lot for someone who’s been awake for less than a minute.

 _It’s not real,_ he tells himself.  _It_ ** _can_** _happen, that doesn’t mean it_ ** _has_ **_to._

Betty’s promises to meet him at the trailer that morning have him totally off kilter after that dream, he wants to see her, to see if he can pick up any hints that she might be hiding something. Fighting with himself as he tries to justify why he should start trying to figure out what she’s keeping from him, he stumbles into the shower, standing under the spray until the water runs cold, trying to separate his feelings from his reality.

Sitting at the small kitchen table, staring at the wall in front of him as he eats dry cereal, he’s still thinking about what he should say to Betty, if anything, about the dream he’d had when the front door opens and his dad makes his way through the doorway, obviously trying to be quiet and failing as the door slams against the frame as he throws it shut.

“Dad,” Jughead says, turned halfway in his chair, staring at him in disappointment.

“Jug,” he responds, throwing his jacket on the couch as he almost trips while trying to take a seat across from him. “Why’re you up so late?”

Jughead barely stops himself from rolling his eyes. “Don’t you mean why am I up so early?”

“What?” his dad asks, looking around for a clock on the wall. The one that had been broken for as long as Jughead’s lived there. “What time is it?”

“It’s eight, Dad,” he answers. “In the morning.”

“Don’t get smart with me,” FP groans out, rubbing his eyes as he leans back into the chair.

“Where’ve you been?” he asks, picking up more dry cereal and forcing it down around the disappointment of his dad coming home drunk. Again.

“At the Wyrm, I had business to take care of.”

Slowly nodding, Jughead glances over at the slouched form of his father. “Yeah, drinking all night sounds like serious business.”

“Jug-”

“I’ve got things to do, I assume you’ll be sleeping it off?” Jughead asks brusquely, standing up and dropping his bowl into the sink before grabbing his jacket off the counter, heading out the front door to wait for Betty on the porch steps of the trailer.

Sitting on the steps, he rests his head into his hands, breathing deeply in and out to control his emotions before everything builds into an explosion that’ll do more damage than good.

He thinks he’s sitting there for less than ten minutes when he hears the wheels of a car pull up on the gravel in front of his dad’s truck. It’s an older station wagon, Betty’s mom’s from what he remembers. He can see her getting out of it with an easy smile on her face, nothing at all resembling the broken expression she’d had in his dream.

 _Overalls,_  he groans internally.  _Is she trying to kill me?_

Staring so hard at the denim covering her he almost totally misses the bag in her hand as she walks up to him, placing a kiss on his cheek and telling him good morning as she gives him the paper bag she’d been holding.

“What’s this?” he asks, catching her before she can move away with him by wrapping a hand behind her neck to keep her still as he kisses her temple.

“Open it,” she responds with a fond eye roll.

Jughead smirks at her as he opens it, his smug look falling off of his face as he stares at its contents. “Muffins?”

“Mmhmm,” Betty hums out. “Blueberry because who doesn’t like blueberry, right? It’s not controversial like chocolate muffins are-”

“If you’re going to make a muffin chocolate, you may as well give me the frosting to actually make it the cupcake it is,” he interrupts with a serious look.

“Like that,” Betty laughs.

Grabbing one and taking a bite out of it he moans into it, making Betty laugh harder at his antics.

“So guh,” he mumbles through his full mouth. “Ank foo, Eddy.”

“You’re welcome. I think,” Betty says, reaching over to wipe the crumbs off the corner of his mouth.

Swallowing, he pulls her in for a quick kiss to the lips. “You know, I’m disappointed you didn’t text me a single picture from Friday night.”

Bumping him with her shoulder, Betty grins, taking a muffin out of the bag for herself. “Veronica confiscated my phone. No boys allowed, even texting them was considered taboo.”

“Thank god for Kevin Keller,” Jughead tells her with a smile. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were a cheerleader.”

Betty scoffs at him. “It was good for college applications.”

“So,” he starts, shooting for nonchalance, “do you still have the uniform?”

“Jug!”

Her shocked yell at him immediately throws him back into the dream he’d woken from that morning and he swallows the need to try and figure it out. There’s something about the situation that tells him if he starts to ask questions she’ll just shut down on him. Remembering something else about the dream, he tugs her into his side by the gap of her overalls as he reaches under her jacket to let his fingers dance across her shirt, making her squirm.

“You know,” he whispers into her ear, “I had the weirdest dream.”

“Did you?”

They’d agreed to not talk about his dreams, his worry of influencing her unknowingly still heavy on his mind. He knows how he feels in them, he thinks he knows how she feels in them as well and he doesn’t want her to feel pressured to make something happen for him if it wasn’t always going to happen anyway. But he thinks telling her small things, things that feel insignificant can’t be too terrible.

“I did,” he says, watching her take a bite from the muffin she’d been holding onto. “I can’t say I understand where it’ll come from but you were calling me "Juggie.”

Her answering giggle makes him smile.

“Juggie?” she questions, looking at him from the corner of her eye. “Really?”

“Really.”

“I like it,” she tells him as she nibbles a blueberry out of the top of her muffin. “Though, you are aware that you’re the one who made that happen, right?”

Jughead’s shoulders slump in defeat as he realizes what he’s just done. “I walked right into that.”

Shrugging, she twists to gaze at him fully. “Yup. Come on,  _Juggie,_ let’s get a look under this hood to see what’s wrong with the old girl.”

Dragging him by the hand behind her, she walks to the back of the station wagon, popping the latch and grabbing a toolbox that looks like it weighs at least as half as much as she does.

“Hey, give that here,” he insists, setting the bag of muffins he’d still been holding onto as he takes it from her hand. “Betty, this thing is ridiculous.”

“Tools are heavy, Jug,” she informs him primly, before closing the back of the wagon and heading straight to the truck.

Hours later, when she finally closes the hood with a satisfied grunt he can’t believe he’s still paying attention to what she’s doing. He knows had it been anyone else he’d have been mind numbingly bored, probably sneaking off to spend some quality time with his laptop.

She smiles big, the grease across her nose and chin doing incredible things to him as she hands him the last wrench to put away.

“You were great,” Betty tells him. “Best wrench finder I’ve ever had.”

“Oh yeah?” Sliding up next to her, he tilts her face upward. “What are the chances I can get that declared in a cheer while you’re wearing-”

“Jughead!” his dad’s voice yells across the yard. “What’re doing?”

Biting back a groan of pure frustration, Jughead wraps an arm around Betty’s shoulders as he turns around, spotting his dad heading their way.

“When’s the last time you gave the truck an oil change or tune-up?” Jughead asks, patting the hood like he knows what he’s talking about.

“What?” FP asks, before taking full notice of Betty next to him. “You got a girl, Jug? Already?”

Narrowing his eyes at him, he gives his dad a strained smile. “This is Betty. Betty, this is my dad.”

Betty, wiping her hand down the leg of her overalls, gives his dad the smile he’s seen her give every adult she’s ever come in contact with. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Jones. And don’t worry about the truck, she’s got new plugs and filters now. I also replaced a hose and rotated the tires for you.”

“Uh,” FP stutters out, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck, “thanks, Betty.”

Still smiling at him, she hands FP the keys to the truck, stepping away from the front of it, giving Jughead space to talk to his dad privately.

“Girlfriend?”

Jughead clenches his jaw. “Yeah, she’s my girlfriend. Which you’d know if you were ever around for longer than it takes you to get sober enough to remember you feel like drinking.”

“Listen-”

“No,” Jughead cuts him off sharply, lowering his voice. “Just -just go do whatever it is you’re going to do, Dad.”

FP is staring intently at him, something Jughead thinks might be guilt creeping into his eyes. “Jug-”

“I’ll see you later, Dad,” he says, waving him off and turning around to take the toolbox back to the station wagon, Betty leaning against it with her head down as she stares intently at her feet.

“Hey.” Setting the tools on the ground, he ignores the sound of the truck starting up and driving off as he settles his hands on her hips. “It’s cold out here. You wanna go inside for a little while?”

Glancing up at him, she nods with a small smile. “Sure.”

 

* * *

 

“I was thinking,” he tells her while she’s washing her hands in the kitchen sink, “Should I meet your parents?”

Betty turns her head quickly to him. “What? Why?”

 _Ahh, there it is,_ he thinks. Her reaction is sharp, guarded and he wants to know why but he doesn’t think pushing her is going to get him any real answers.

“If we’re dating-”

“Soon,” she promises, drying her hands on the towel he handed her, “but not, like, right now, okay?”

He’s watching her face, trying to gauge her expression and he thinks it looks a lot like anxiety. “Sure, Betty, whatever you want.”

A relieved smile takes over her face as she reaches up to cup his cheeks in her hands. “You know what we are?”

Confused, Jughead just shakes his head while gazing at her bright eyes, the smudges he’s not ashamed to think of as adorable still on her face. “What?”

“Alone,” Betty says, pushing herself up on her toes to take her lips with his.

It almost takes his breath away as she slips her hands into his hair, tugging him down as she rolls back onto her heels, his arms coming around her. Picking her up, he twists around until he can set her down on the counter next to the sink, her legs going around his waist. Moving his fingers up her side he pushes his hands to the inside back of her overalls, pulling the shirt up so he can feel the smooth skin of her back.

Her light moan into his mouth has him grasping at her sides, feeling her tense as he comes across ticklish spots.

“Are you ticklish?” he whispers as he breaks the kiss, nipping her earlobe.

“Jug,” she whines out, trying to direct his mouth back to hers.

He traces circles on her sides, smiling when he feels her jump a bit with each pass, the goosebumps popping up along her skin giving him a strange satisfaction.

Pulling her shirt up to right under her breasts, he lets his hands trail further down her sides as she squirms, her legs tightening around him. “Answer me, Betty.”

Letting her head fall back against the cabinet door, she takes a deep breath before glaring at him. “Obviously I am.”

Remembering his second dream about Betty, the corner of his mouth twitches up before he tries out what he’s tucked away for the right time. “Do you want me to stop?”

“Tickling me?” Betty asks, her eyes half lidded, her arms loosely wrapped around his neck.

Jughead uses the flat of his hand to push her into him further as he trails kisses up her jawline before whispering, “I bet a good girl would ask nicely.”

Breath hitching as her whole body stiffens, her eyes are wide and staring at him when he pulls back to look at her face. “What?”

“You heard me,” he says, biting his way down her collarbone with a smile, his fingers still tracing circles on her skin.

“Please,” she breathes out.

“Good girl,” he murmurs into her skin and as soon as the words are out of his mouth, her fingers are gripping his hair, tugging his head back up to hers, pressing her lips to his, the soft slide of her tongue moving against his as he takes his hands out of her overalls, running them across her neck as he moves them up into her hair.

He realizes he’s pressed against the rough edge of the counter and moves to pick her up, legs still around his waist as he pulls her off the counter, walking down the short hallway and into his bedroom.

Stopping in the doorway, he meets her eyes. “Is this okay?”

Nodding, she leans forward and peppers kisses along his jawline as he lays her down on his bed, grateful he’d washed the sheets the day before.

Letting her fall back softly onto the mattress, he sits back on his knees with her thighs resting across his hips. Staring at her, the grease still on her face, her rumpled shirt under her twisted up overalls, her messy hair laying out against the dark blue of his sheets he bites back a laugh as she grabs onto the loops of his suspenders as they pool on the bed next to his bent legs.

“Do you like those?” he asks, watching her bite her lip as she tries to hide her smile. “Betty?”

“Yes,” she whispers, twisting her hands into them until they’ve looped at least twice around her wrists.

“Does my girl want to be tied up?” He’s sort of surprised by the question but sort of not when he sees her flush at his words. Knowing what he does know about what she likes, he’s more than willing to play along as long as she’s comfortable. “It seems like she does.”

A barely perceptible nod has him unclipping the suspenders from his jeans, holding onto them so her hands don’t slip out of the elastic as he pushes them above her head, leaning over her and tying them carefully to the headboard. Slipping a finger between her wrist and the fabric, he makes sure she can slide her hands out of them easily if she wants to, he trails his fingers back down her arms, making her laugh and groan simultaneously.

“Jughead,” she whimpers out, tightening her thighs against his hips as he lets his weight fall against her.

Her hips roll into him without warning and he sucks in a sharp breath at the sensation. Reciprocating, he pushes his pelvis into hers, swallowing her moan as he finds her lips once more. Pushing his hands into her hair, he keeps meeting her hips with his own as they roll into one another, with him pushing his face into her neck as he feels the heat crawling up his spine, telling him he’s going to finish soon.

“Oh fuck,” he murmurs into her hair as he feels her move faster, each pass of her own hips against his coming with a panting moan into his ear as she softly calls his name. “Betty-”

“God, Jug,” is the only thing he hears before he feels her legs pulsing, her back arching as she comes, her breathing loud in the quiet room.

It’s enough to send him over his own edge, pushing against her in a fast rhythm as he tells her she’s beautiful and how good she is for him and to him. When he can move, he gently unties her hands and rubs her wrists as he presses kisses to them, watching her catch her breath with wide eyes staring up at him.

“That was amazing.”

Pleased with himself, and her most of all, he smirks. “It really was, wasn’t it?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, can you believe!? Me either. Wait, what are we talking about? Probably the frottage. You know, because uh, look, no one is banging right away in my fics when they're sweet little virgies. They gotta work for it! Even if Betty has a suspender kink and tumblr was mean and actually flagged my INNOCENT post of Betty in overalls. 
> 
> That's a true story. 
> 
> What even? 
> 
> Why? 
> 
> Who? 
> 
> Oh wait, this is not Infinty War. Fine, fine. Bughead, that's right. 
> 
> Am I working on responding to comments? Yes. Am I behind? Yessss. Am I going to get to it soon? Also yes. One day my inbox will have below 600 messages in it. Today is not that day but a bitch can try. Right? Right. 
> 
> Anyway, what this girl is trying to say is that your comments mean the world to me. They make these chapters happen, y'all. Seriously. You guys should be motivational speakers, for real. I give you my everlasting love and besos in return. 
> 
> And bughead smut. Because apparently that's a thing I do now. Meh, it's fine. I'm fine. We're fine. 
> 
> As always, you can [tumble](https://thetaoofbetty.tumblr.com/) with me if you want.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello you gorgeous group of uh, what the fuck is a word with a g? Hmm. Okay. Hang on. Gladiolas? Ahh, that'll do. 
> 
> Anyway, this took longer than I thought it would but in my defense, I am very lazy and also tired. I am going to try and update at least weekly from now on, I need to get my ass back on schedule and what better way than to write bughead? Exactly. 
> 
> Read on, friends, the chapter awaits!

It takes Jughead a week to catch his dad both sober and in a mood he feels like won’t blow up in his face. Without a valid reason that Veronica could hate him for and with Archie’s advice from the previous week at Pop’s, he’s hoping his dad can provide some insight on what the problem might be.

He can see the strain it’s putting on Betty, to have her boyfriend hated by her best friend. If it were just him, he’d roll his eyes and ignore it but it’s frustrating him to see Betty try and keep the peace with strained smiles and carving time out for each of them separately.

Kevin, an unexpected ally, had rolled his eyes when Jughead asked the week before what was wrong with Veronica, telling him that, “Neither Betty or I can figure out why she’s strung tighter than her pearls.”

Seeing his dad sitting on the sofa, relaxing with a drink in hand, Jughead makes his way to sit next to him, hoping that drink is his first of the night.

“Hey,” he starts, pulling FP’s attention away from the TV, “can I ask you a question?”

“Sure Jug,” his dad answers with a shrug.

Jughead takes a deep breath, readying himself to try and deal with the possible after effects of what he’s about to bring up. “You know that I’m dating Betty Cooper-”

“Cooper?” his dad interrupts, turning to stare at him, eyes intense. “As in Hal Cooper’s daughter?”

“Are there other Coopers in town?” he asks, confused. “Why does it matter?”

“You don’t need to mix yourself up with any Coopers, Jughead. Plenty of pretty girls for you to date that aren’t Coopers-”

“You met Betty!” Jughead exclaims. “Are you telling me that you didn’t know who she was?”

His dad shakes his head at him. “I knew they had daughters, neither named Betty though-”

“Her name is-”

“Elizabeth,” FP interrupts. “Yeah, the whole town knows about the Coopers. You don’t need to be messing around with-”

“You don’t get a say in who I date,” Jughead cuts in, trying not to clench his jaw. “And before you pull some parental card about following your rules, I’m eighteen, you  _don’t_ get a say. Not that you ever wanted one before.”

“Jughead.” FP sounds pleading. “I know I wasn’t there for you when you were younger but I’m just trying to look out for you now.”

“Look out for me?” Jughead asks, bewildered. “Are you serious? Do you even know where I am when you’re gone all night? No? I’m here! I’m here waiting for you to come home. I didn’t _ask_ to come here, I didn’t  _want_ to come here. The only reason I haven’t been looking for a way to go back to Toledo is Betty. So no, I don’t want to hear how you’re trying to look out for me now.”

“Son, listen to me-”

“Betty is non-negotiable,” Jughead interjects, voice firm. “That’s not even what I wanted to ask you about.”

FP sighs, leaning back, defeated for the moment. “What did you want to ask then, Jug?”

Jughead rests his elbows on his knees as he turns his head to meet his dad’s eyes. “Why does Veronica Lodge hate me?”

“Jesus, Jughead!” his dad yells, startling him. “You don’t need to get mixed up with either of those girls. Or their families.”

“Did you hear the part where Veronica hates me?

“Kid, stay away from the Lodges,” his dad insists, putting a hand on his shoulder and gently squeezing. “I mean it.”

“Gladly,” Jughead agrees easily. “However, Veronica Lodge is Betty’s best friend-”

“What?”

Nodding, Jughead continues. “Best friends and my girlfriend, who I am not breaking up with by the way, is exhausting herself trying to keep us separated to maintain the peace. So, since someone told me to ask you why Veronica Lodge hates me, I want to know. Why does Veronica Lodge hate me?”

“Things in the past,” FP tells him, running a hand across his face like just saying the words exhaust him, “should stay in the past.”

“No,” Jughead says, frustration coloring his tone. “I am not paying for your secrets. You want the past to stay there? Great, good for you. I don’t actually care about whatever it is you did but since it’s affecting my life  _now_ , I want the truth.”

“You have to understand, every one of us, we have our own version of what happened back then, okay? What I’m about to tell you is my truth and I’m sure Hermione Lodge has her own and so does Alice Cooper.”

Jughead stares at his dad in silence, waiting for him to continue.

FP rubs the back of his neck. “We were friends, all of us, that includes Fred Andrews-”

“Archie Andrews’ dad?” Jughead asks, interrupting him.

“I assume so, I only know of one Andrews family here in Riverdale,” his dad answers. “The four of us, and a couple of others, we got pretty close our senior year. I was seeing Alice, off and on, for a bit-”

Jughead groans loudly. “Tell me you were not sleeping with my girlfriend’s mom. No, Dad, seriously tell me that you were not sleeping with my girlfriend’s mother.”

FP shrugs at him. “Was I supposed to look twenty years in the future and see that the kid I didn’t know I was going to have was going to date the daughter of the girl I was messing with in high school?”

“Yes!” Jughead yells, taking his hat off and running his hand through it before putting it back on before realizing he might be overreacting. “Fine. Whatever. Keep going.”

“You know how soulmates work, I don’t need to tell you that. It’s built on free will, right? The information is there if you want to use it but you don’t have to. You’re not obligated to be with someone or even like them, no matter what the universe says.”

Nodding, Jughead takes it all in. He knows that, it’s one of his biggest fears when it comes to Betty. That she might not dream of him, that she’ll choose to walk away while he’s stupid in love with her. It’s something he’s gotten very good at ignoring lately.

FP sighs, and it’s a regretful sound. “There’s a lot of different schools of thought on what the dreams can be. Are they promises? Warnings? Both? No one knows but when I was your age, I wasn’t as smart as you, Jug. Hell, I’m still not as smart as you but do you know what I was?”

“What?”

“Angry. I was so angry, Jughead, I didn’t want to be my old man,” his dad says, letting his head hang down, staring at the old carpet on the floor between his feet. “And it happened anyway so everything I did just came back to bite me on the ass.”

“What did you do?” he asks with apprehension. Jughead’s seen his dad in a lot of states before, angry and drunk. Apologetic and sober. Self righteous and stubborn. But he doesn’t remember him looking as guilty as he does right now, not even when he told him he was moving back to his hometown of Riverdale, leaving him and Jellybean with their mom in a little apartment that he thinks still might have cost too much money for his parents too afford.

“I wanted out. Of the Southside, out of Riverdale, all of it,” FP starts. “I thought football was gonna get me out at first but then I got hurt and those opportunities disappeared.”

Jughead stays silent. He knows his dad is ashamed of what he’s done, he can still read him that well even after all the years they spent apart.

“Senior year, I started seeing Alice Smith off and on, right? Did you know she’s from the Southside too? A Serpent, even. Tough as nails and mean as any snake you’ll ever cross but damn, she was beautiful,” he tells him, with a far off look on his face. “We weren’t exclusive, probably should have been with the way we went at it-”

“Dad, no, don’t say that to me about my girlfriend’s mom, okay?” Jughead interrupts, grossed out by the implications of that.

“Good lord, Jug, it’s just sex-”

“Of which, in my mind, you don’t have. Ever.”

FP laughs lightly, shrugging at him. “Alright, kid. You and Jellybean were miracles of biology with no conception needed.”

“Thank you.”

“Anyway,” he continues, “the point is that Alice? She wasn’t going anywhere. Not at the time and she and I both knew it. Alice and Hermione had become closer, not best friends as far as I could tell but they were pretty good at having each other’s backs.” FP leans back against the sofa cushions, shame crossing his face before he turns to look at Jughead. “Hermione had better prospects, she was more focused and motivated. She was pretty, she wasn’t Alice, but she was still a pretty girl-”

“Tell me,” Jughead interjects in a pleading tone, “that you didn’t cheat on Betty’s mom with Veronica’s mom and that’s why Veronica hates me. Because if I’m paying for that-”

“Jug,” his dad cuts in sharply. “Listen to me, okay? If that was all I did, I doubt Veronica Lodge would even know your name. What I did? So much worse than throwing one girl over for her friend.”

Nerves running through him, he narrows his eyes at his dad. “What did you do?”

“You know, even after all this time, they can’t prove the dreams, right? You either have them or you don’t and people almost never question it because why would people lie about something like that?”

His stomach falls and he feels the blood draining from his face. “You lied? You told, who? Hermione? That she was your soulmate for a meal ticket out of Riverdale? Why would you do that to someone?”

FP nods. “I’m not proud of it, Jug. I was desperate not to become my old man. He’d broken my arm earlier that year, he was on me to join the Serpents and I didn’t want that for myself. I wanted something bigger and better. So I told Hermione she was my soulmate. I didn’t think about what it would do to Alice or their friendship, I was selfish.”

“Yeah, I’d say so.”

“I didn’t realize until later the events I helped set in motion but Hermione was torn between wanting to believe me and her friendship with Alice. When I realized the choices I was putting on them for a lie, I came clean, I admitted it but not before-”

“You and Veronica’s mom too?!” Jughead yells, letting his head fall into his hands. “Is there anyone else I should know about? Did you sleep with Fred Andrews too? Is there anyone in town you haven’t slept with?”

“Are you done?”

“No!” His answer is muffled by his palms. “Yes. Go on.”

“So, in the end, I messed up their friendship, my relationship with Alice, and it was for nothing. I joined the Army right out of school and I ended up back here anyway, in the same trailer even.”

Jughead doesn’t know what to say. He can’t imagine lying about something so important to someone. He tries to think of ways the situation could apply to him and Betty and the closest he can come is if he lied and denied what she was to him.

He almost can’t breathe at the thought of it. Of betraying her in that way. Even if she weren’t his soulmate, to look her in the eye and lie out of pure selfishness? He doesn’t think he could do it. Thinking about everything his dad’s told him he remembers something.

“Wait, what events did you help set in motion?” he asks, confused.

FP points at him with a serious look. “That is not my story to tell, boy. You need to talk to your girl about that one.” 

 

* * *

 

Standing outside the Pembrooke on the Northside of Riverdale, Jughead debates with himself about going in for the tenth time in as many minutes. He wants to tell Veronica that he’s not his dad. That she’s hurting Betty by hating him for reasons he never had any control over but he feels guilty.

Guilt over the choices his dad made over twenty years ago. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes he tries to summon up the courage to walk through the doors and deal with Veronica Lodge as directly as possible.

When he opens his eyes, he almost stumbles back, surprised by the man in a Pembrooke uniform standing right in front of him.

“Uh, hey,” he stutters out. “Hi. Hello. Can I help you?”

“Miss Lodge has requested you either come inside or go away before she calls Miss Cooper to come pick up her stray.”

“What?”

“It was requested I use her exact words, Mr. Jones,” the man tells him, turning and walking to the door, holding it open for Jughead.

“Fine,” he mutters to himself. “A stray? Ugh, sorry we don’t all live in penthouses in a show of excess wealth and privilege.”

Once in the elevator he has the sudden thought he really should have let Veronica call Betty. He doesn’t know what he’s thinking, being here. Dealing with someone so cold she can probably make ice cubes shiver.

She’s standing there when the elevator door opens, arms crossed and toe tapping on the floor, already looking impatient.

He knows he’s scowling at her. They must look like two opposing animals getting ready to fight like in one of those nature shows his mom tried to make him watch when he was younger.

“Jones,” she sniffs haughtily.

“Lodge,” he says in return, stepping out of the elevator and following her. Trying to ignore the obvious opulence of his surroundings, he stares at his feet while he walks, thinking about how he’s going to start this conversation.

“Sit,” Veronica demands, gesturing to a sofa that looks like it costs more than some people make in a year. He glares at her before plopping down on it, smiling internally when he sees her expression harden at his bad manners.

Crossing his arms, he narrows his eyes as he looks at her. “I heard the strangest thing a week or so ago.”

Sitting on a chair across from him, Veronica eyes him coolly. “Is that so?”

“Mmhmm,” he hums out before smirking at her. “Turns out, the resident Nice Guy Jock said I should talk to my dad about your attitude problem.”

“Archibald,” Veronica hisses under her breath, fists clenching in her lap. “I’m going to kill him.”

Jughead lifts a shoulder in a half shrug. “That’s your choice but I just had the most enlightening conversation with my dad.”

“Did you now?”

“I did. Turns out that you’re holding me responsible for shit I never even knew happened, much less played a part in.”

She gives him a baleful stare. “You’re a Jones, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am. Actually, not only am I a Jones but I’m the third in row with my name but you know what?”

“What?” she grits out, legs crossed at the ankles and sitting with a stiff back.

“None of that makes me my dad or my grandfather,” he informs her, leaning forward and putting his elbows on his knees as he sizes her up. “It does make you a judgmental bitch though, doesn’t it?”

“Only a weak willed man would resort to calling a woman a bitch when he doesn’t like hearing what she has to say,” she says with a jerk of her chin.

“Normally I’d agree with you,” he says with a nod. “You, however, have gone out of your way to dislike me for reasons that don’t even have a place in my life. What my dad did before he left this town and met my mom has no bearing on who I am as a person. And you ignoring that fact? Say what you will but it tells me who you are.”

“And who am I, Jughead?”

“To me? No one. To Betty? Her best friend and someone she loves deeply. So what if my dad did some stupid things years ago? Not only did I not even know until today what that was, I’m not him. Betty is not her mom, either. We are not our parents, Veronica.”

“I’m just supposed to trust you? Do you even know the extent of the damage that lie caused?”

“No, I don’t know what happened after that. But I know I don’t deserve your judgment,” he says, leaning back against the cushions again. “Betty is -she’s the realest thing in my life, Veronica. Do you get that?”

“What? You just liked her immediately? Just like that? You didn’t even know her before-”

“Oh my god, do you hear yourself? You’re looking for reasons at this point! I’m sorry my dad was an asshole to your mom and Betty’s mom but that’s not my fault. It has nothing to do with me or Betty. Or you. Why do you even care?”

“Lies destroy lives, Jones,” she screeches at him, standing up.

“Yeah, they do, “ he tells her. “Which is why you’re going to be the one to tell Betty what she obviously doesn’t know because if she did she wouldn’t be confused on why her best friend hates her boyfriend for _no apparent reason._ ”

“You’re not worried that her finding out might make her look at you differently?”

Jughead scoffs. “If it would have, you’d have already told her by now.”

Veronica is glaring at him, hands on her hips. “You’re going to hurt her, Jughead, they all do, once they figure out who she is, they all leave-”

“What does that even mean?” he says, cutting her off with a wave of his hand. “I’m tired of people giving me cryptic messages regarding my girlfriend.”

Her stance softens just barely. “It’s not my place to-”

“Tell me, yeah, I keep hearing that. And honestly? I don’t want you to tell me, I wouldn’t trust it.”

“Good,” Veronica states. “But I’m telling you, Jones, if you walk out on her later on, they’ll never find your body.”

Jughead laughs. “Got connections, I assume?”

Raising an eyebrow, she just shrugs. “Fantastic ones. Very discreet.”

He almost gulps at the look on her face and it takes everything he has not to step back at the cool look in her eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“See that you do.”

Turning to leave, Jughead stops and looks over his shoulder. “You can keep trying, Lodge, but I’m not leaving Betty.”

He doesn’t wait for a reply, but as he’s walking he thinks he might hear a whispered, “I hope that’s true.”

 

* * *

 

Betty is waiting for him on the steps at Pop’s, bundled in a pink coat and white gloves, her cheeks red from the cold.

“What are you doing out here?” he asks, rubbing his hands up and down her arms to help warm her before leading her into the diner.

“Uh,” Betty says, looking around before leading him to an empty booth in the back, sliding into the seat, pulling him down next to her. “I just wanted to make sure I caught you when you arrived.”

Putting an arm around her and pulling her into his side, he’s looking over her shoulder at the menu she’s holding in front of them when she murmurs quietly, “Veronica told me.”

“About my dad and your mom?” he asks. “And her mom, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Betty says, eyes on the menu. She’s avoiding looking up and he’s getting worried she’s not as okay with it as he thought she’d be. “Do you see something you want?”

Smiling to himself, he nudges her ear with his nose before whispering, “Definitely.”

Pressing his forehead to her temple, he can feel her smile at his words, some of the weight in his stomach fall away. “Are you mad?”

“Mad? About what?”

“My dad. Your mom.”

Betty shakes her head almost imperceptibly. “No, that has nothing to do with you and me. It’s not great, I mean, I feel bad for my mom and Mrs. Lodge, even your dad a little-”

“Why?” Jughead interrupts, baffled.

Giving him the slightest of shrugs before leaning further into his side she tells him, “He must have been really desperate to get away from this town.”

“Maybe,” Jughead agrees, “but it’s not enough to justify what he did.”

“No,” Betty says to him, setting the menu down and letting her hands fall into her lap, “it’s not. People just want to survive sometimes, Jug. No matter what.”

Frowning at her despondent tone, he presses a kiss to the side of her head, deciding to change the subject by tapping a finger against the menu. “Anything you recommend?”

“You already ate here, Jug, remember?”

“That doesn’t mean I tried it all in one night, I have some limits.”  

When a waitress makes their way over, he lets Betty order for him; a burger with fries and a shake. Laying her head on his shoulder, he tightens his arm around her, still worried about her reaction to Veronica’s information earlier.

“Betty?”

“Hmm?” she hums out, and he can see her eyes are closed and her face is relaxed.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, Jug,” she promises, eyes opening as she reaches for his hand sitting on the table. “I don’t blame you for what your dad did. I’m surprised my mom never told me-”

“Even when you told her who you were dating?” he asks, interrupting her.

Betty’s eyes grow wide and nervous as she sits up and away from him. “I-”

Jughead’s spine stiffens as he clenches his jaw, the lingering feelings of thinking Betty being ashamed of him from his last dream still haunting him. “You haven’t told her about me.”

Her grip on his hand tightens as he tries to pull it out of her grasp. “It’s not what you think-”

“And what is it you think that I’m thinking?”

Shaking her head, she reaches for the edge of his jacket, holding onto him. “Whatever it is you’re thinking, it’s not it, I can promise-”

“Betty.” Twisting on the seat until he’s facing her, her hands still gripping tightly to him. “Why are we always alone when we’re together? Even when we went to the drive-in, we avoided as many people as possible. If we’re not at the Blue and Gold, we’re in the back of the library -and not even doing the things I keep trying to get you to do back there-”

Her soft giggle distracts him and he gives her a sly smile.

“This is the first time we’ve really been out in public together that’s not in the hallways at school. Why is that?”

“It’s not you,” Betty says softly, eyes turned down for a moment before looking up at him with a strained smile he knows isn’t even close to being what a smile should look like on her pretty face. “I just want you all to myself, what can I say?”

He knows she’s lying. Between what Veronica said and what the dream had told him, he knows it’s deeper than she’s willing to divulge right now so he struggles but succeeds to swallow the urge to keep questioning her.

“Is that right?” he asks, pulling his arm off from behind her on the booth and tilting her chin up towards him so he can press a kiss to her lips. “Well if that’s the case, how about you and me take our food to go and I promise to let you have me all to yourself all day long?”

“Yeah?” Betty looks relieved and his heart feels like it’s going to crack. He wants to know what’s got her hiding even when she’s in a crowd. Knowing that no one is going to help him find answers and not wanting to push Betty before she’s ready, he tells himself he’s going to figure it out, if for no other reason than to have a better understanding of who Betty is.

“Yeah. Come on, blondie, let’s go find you a dark corner so you can take advantage of me,” he says, pulling her out of the booth, trying to find the waitress so he can tell her to pack their orders to go. “I’ll even let you tie me up with my own suspenders this time.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, ahem. Well, I don't know about you but I can imagine Jughead is letting Betty have some fun with those suspenders. 
> 
> Fucking FP, can you believe!? Good god man. This is what happens when no one dick punches fuckboys, let's be real. Anyway, anyone who's been on my tumblr in the last 24 hours knows I have **The Worst** headache right now so if it didn't make sense, it uh, well, let's just not blame me and call it a day shall we? It's bad enough the mister threatened to lock me in the bedroom if he caught me trying to escape my now mandatory bed rest again.
> 
> IN MY DEFENSE, I was trying to forage for snacks. 
> 
> So, the story, that's right. The reason people are here, duh. Okay. We're moving along! Things are happening! These two need to start taking off more clothes soon! Plus Jughead and his side sleuthing! He's like, _"Yes, B Coop, I adore you so imma give you what you need but also imma do what I want because I'm a little shit sometimes."_
> 
> But, for real, I need to respond to comments and I'll try to catch up but also I'm almost certain I'm going to pass out soon-ish so let me say here and now that I love and adore you all. Like, bughead has nothing on the way I love you guys. So, besos from me to you forever and always! 
> 
> And, as always, you can [tumble](https://thetaoofbetty.tumblr.com/) with me if you want.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, kids! 
> 
> So, I mean, I don't know why anyone pretends to read these top notes. I could just say whatever. 
> 
> Boogers. 
> 
> See? No one even knows I said that now.

If there’s anything that going under the radar for three years at his previous school taught Jughead, it’s that you don’t act like you’re going under the radar. Act uninterested. Look busy. Seem like you have no idea what’s going on while intently being aware of  _everything_ going on.

He knows what he’s doing is not the greatest idea he’s ever had but he’s always been justifying things to himself; wanting to be prepared when Betty finally shares her secrets with him is a good thing, he just wants to know who she is without pushing her. The nagging desperation to figure out the cryptic messages from Veronica and his dad have pushed his good sense past the point of no return.

He doesn’t know why, but he gets the feeling that whatever she’s hiding is big. Skeletons in most closets are knowing the words to songs you’d never admit to liking or being scared of spiders. Even secrets a little worse than those don’t have your friends warning off boyfriends, not really. With his dad’s words about Hal Cooper floating around his head, he’s going to start on big picture before trying to get deeper into the Cooper family secrets.

Betty’s busy on some afternoons, working for her mom she tells him, so he uses those days as the perfect opportunity to start looking for clues, ones that won’t tip her off what he’s doing so he avoids looking through the school library or the Blue and Gold office.

Looking both ways and behind him as he crosses a street in the Northside of town, he heads into the public library to check out the archives of the Riverdale Register. Giving a quick nod to the librarian, he heads to the back to figure out where to start.

First he looks for hard copy archives to no avail. Setting himself up on one of the library computers, he tries to find anything relevant among the town headlines with keyword searches but comes up empty.

Frustrated, he leans back in the chair, running his hands over his face.

_Maybe it’s a sign,_ he thinks.  _I_ _should just ask Betty what she’s hiding._

Before he can pack up his bag in defeat, he feels the presence of someone behind him. Turning quickly before letting a relieved breath, he sees the librarian standing over him.

“Need some help?”

Jughead barely spares a thought to the fact that there’s a possibility that this is a bad idea before blurting out, “Yeah, I’m trying to find info about Hal Cooper.”

The librarian’s eyebrows raise. “Hal Cooper? You’re not going to find any of that here.”

“What? Why not?”

“Alice Cooper runs the newspaper in town, of course. She kept it all out of the papers, she said it was for her daughters benefit but if you ask me, Alice just didn’t want more speculation than was already happening.”

He desperately wants to ask what was happening but he knows better than to leave too much of a trail. A high school student asking for newspaper headlines? Happens all the time. A high school kid asking for specific information, questioning the local librarian? Much more memorable.

_Fuck,_ he groans internally.

“You’re gonna have to go to Greendale if you want anything useful,” the librarian tells him, bringing him out of his thoughts.

_Pretend like you have a clue where that is,_ he tells himself as he gives her a smile. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” she answers, patting him on the shoulder as she walks back behind the counter.

Deciding to look up Greendale when he gets home, he grabs his bag, slinging it over his shoulder as he makes his way out of the library and back across town to the Southside.

 

* * *

 

“And just where do you think you’re going, Elizabeth?” her mom asks her, hands on her hips, lips pursing in disapproval. “Not to the Lodge’s-”

“Mom,” Betty cuts in, rolling her eyes, “stop.”

“Excuse me?”

Heaving a sigh, Betty turns to her, adjusting the bag of muffins in her arms. “I’m not going to Veronica’s, okay?”

Raising an eyebrow, Alice crosses her arms. “You better not be going to-”

“No!” Betty exclaims. “I’m not.” Taking a deep breath, she swallows her nerves and plasters a fake smile on her face. “I’m going to my boyfriend’s house.”

“Boyfriend? Since when do you have a boyfriend? It better not be that runabout, Archie Andrews, Elizabeth.”

“It’s Betty, Mom, and no, it’s not Archie. He’s new, he just moved here from Ohio.”

“And does this young man have a name?”

Stiffening her spine for the blowout she knows is about to happen, she tries to minimize the damage by skirting around who Jughead actually is. “His name is Jughead.”

“Jug,” Alice says, pausing, “head?”

Smiling brightly, Betty nods. “Yup. He’s-”

“And just what is his actual name? No one names their child Jughead, Eliza -excuse me- Betty,” Alice interrupts.

Fidgeting with the bag she’s holding, she lifts a shoulder in a half shrug. “His name is Forsythe.”

Alice’s entire body goes still and her arms drop along with her mouth. “What did you just say?”

Clearing her throat, deciding to stand up for herself and Jughead despite the consequences, she looks directly into her mom’s eyes. “His name is Forsythe Pendleton Jones. The third, in case you were wondering.”

There’s a far off look of pain that crosses Alice’s face before she shakes it off, running her hands down her clothes to smooth them, standing a little straighter. “No.”

“You don’t really get a say, Mom.”

“I most certainly do, young lady, and I say no.”

Chin tilted down, Betty bites back her anxiety at revealing what she knows. “I know what his dad did, Veronica told me. But Jughead? He’s not his dad.”

Alice scoffs. “I’m sure.”

“He’s not.”

“Betty, I know the Jones men far better than you ever have-”

“One! You knew one Jones and Jughead isn’t him,” Betty snaps. “I’m sorry he did that to you and Mrs. Lodge but you guys aren’t Jughead, me, or Veronica.”

“You’re sure of that? That he won’t go after your best friend when your back is turned?” Alice asks. “It seems to be in their DNA.”

“Jughead wouldn’t do that to me,” Betty tells her wearily. “Neither would Veronica. I know it was wrong of Mr. Jones and Mrs. Lodge but if she thought she was his soulmate then maybe it wasn’t so easy to just ignore-”

“Whatever it is you think you know, you’re wrong,” Alice says, throwing her hands up. “FP Jones wanted to get out of this town, Betty. He used me and Hermione, and you know what? I’m glad it blew up in his face, I’m thrilled life seems to have kicked him, he doesn’t  _deserve_ better.”

Betty considers her mom for a second, looking at the sadness behind the anger on her face. “He really hurt you, didn’t he?”

Alice breathes in sharply. “Don’t be ridiculous, Elizabeth. FP Jones was nothing more than a -than a- a distraction.”

Knowing she’s lying, Betty lets it go. She doesn’t want to keep fighting over something that isn’t going to change anytime soon. A slight nod in her mother’s direction tells her it’s dropped and Betty goes to walk around Alice on her way to the door only being stopped by the pressure of her mom holding onto her arm.

“I mean it, he’s just going to hurt you,” Alice almost pleads, her fingers trembling against Betty’s jacket.

Gently peeling her hand off, Betty stares into her mother’s face. “Jughead isn’t like his dad. I’m not you. This isn’t going to end up the same.”

“You don’t know that, Betty! What happens when you turn eighteen in May?”

“I don’t need to know,” Betty says, her ponytail flicking back and forth as she shakes her head. “Jughead’s already eighteen, Mom.”

Alice gasps, latching back onto Betty’s arm. “Elizabeth-”

“You don’t get a say,” she tells her again. “This is my life and I’ve already given up enough of it with someone controlling me, don’t you think?”

“Betty, please, listen,” Alice begs, turning Betty to face her fully. “I know what you’ve gone through, but you cannot let this boy lie to you, the consequences of these choices can affect the rest of your life.”

“I hope they do,” she says calmly, breaking free of her mom’s hold. “I really, really hope they do.”

Making her way to the door, she looks over her shoulder at Alice one last time, almost irritated her reaction is to always comfort someone whose only goal in life seems to be trying to make her question herself at times. Sighing, she walks out the door without a word to her, the slumped posture and defeated look on her face searing itself into her brain.

Adjusting her coat she briefly considers taking her mom’s car to Jughead’s but decides not to, telling herself she really needs to buy her own car at some point. Tightening her grip on the bag of muffins, she sets off down the sidewalk and past Archie’s on her way to the Southside, the walk shorter than she thinks it should be with the way the town seems to divide itself depending on the street you live on.

Her hands are almost frozen by the time she reaches Sunnyside, not even the gloves she’d stuffed in her jacket pockets were enough to keep them warm in the rapidly dropping temperatures. The old truck is outside the trailer along with a black motorcycle she’s not seen before. Knocking lightly after carefully climbing the stairs to the tiny porch, being careful not to slip in case of ice, she waits nervously for someone to open the door.

She can hear the shuffle of steps coming closer and expects Jughead’s smiling face and almost takes a step back when she sees FP’s tired eyes instead when the door finally swings open.

“Betty?”

“Hi, Mr. Jones, is Jughead here?”

FP shrugs, gesturing for her to come in. “He’s asleep, I think.”

“Oh,” Betty says, her disappointment palpable. She hasn’t seen him since Friday afternoon and it was already Sunday morning. “I can come back-”

“Nah,” FP interrupts, running a hand through his hair, reminding her of the way Jughead does it. “You can go on and wake him up, I’ve got some stuff to do so I’ll get out of your hair.”

Betty gives him a tight lipped smile. She’s pretty sure she knows Jughead would disapprove of the “business” he says he needs to take care of. Opening the bag in her hands, she offers him a muffin instead of a reproach and tells him to drive safe.

Pretty sure he was rolling his eyes at her on his way out the door, she feels awkward as she locks the door behind him, a habit she’s developed over the last few years, setting the muffins on the counter before taking her coat and gloves off and wandering down the hallway to where she knows Jughead’s bedroom is.

Blushing as she thinks about the last time she was in there she quietly pushes the door open, seeing him starfished out on his bed, well, as much as he can be with his long limbs. Face smushed into his pillow and his dark hair falling over his eyes, she can’t help herself as she leans over him and whispers in his ear,  _“Juggie."_

He groans a little, adjusting himself deeper into the sheets, making them move down until she can see he’s in nothing but a pair of boxers.

Biting back a giggle, she does it again, only trailing her fingers across his shoulders as she does it, the nickname he sold himself out on making her smile as she uses it again.

_“Wake up, Juggie."_

 

* * *

 

_The feeling of being smacked in the face with something firm is the first thing he registers, the second is his own laughter._

_Sitting on the edge of the bed, he’s looking through his phone in his boxers when she turns to ask him a question on her way to their bathroom, hitting him with the firm roundness of her belly._

_“It’s not funny, Jughead!” she yells, her hands piecing her robe together to cover the bump._

_He can’t stop laughing at her indignant look. “Baby, come on. It’s hilarious.”_

_“It is not, I don’t even have a grasp on how much space I’m taking up anymore, I’m probably going to create my own gravitational pull by the end.”_

_“Betty-”_

_“No, Jug, I keep closing doors on accident and now I’m assaulting my husband? I’m huge,” she proclaims, throwing her hands up, her face twisting in sadness._

_Looking up at her with affection, he feels the pull on his heart, the awe that he’s been in of her for the last few months as she grew a little person that is going to be half her and half him. Sitting up and tugging her by the open edges of her robe, he pulls her until her bump is close enough for him to rest his chin on as he gazes up at her._

_“Betty,” he says, starting to trace soothing circles of around her stomach, “what you are, is a badass.”_

_She scoffs at him, her eyes turning red from what he knows is her trying to hold back tears at her growing frustration._

_“It’s true. You’re standing here, talking to me and developing a brain at the same time. That’s pretty fucking cool if you ask me.”_

_She rolls her eyes at him but he can see the beginnings of a smile curling up the edges of her mouth._

_“You just like the bigger-”_

_“Oh, I do,” he easily agrees, wrapping his arms around her middle before placing a series of soft kisses against the soft skin of her stomach. “Love them, in fact. But I love this new round Betty more. All ripe and full of life, carrying my baby-”_

_“Ugh, you’re going caveman again,” Betty sighs out, interrupting._

_Jughead breathes her in, bringing his hands to her hips, fingers tightening into her. “I can’t help it. It’s a good look on you.”_

_Pulling her into his lap, he helps settle in as best she can, this position something they only do for actual sitting these days and stares into her eyes, leaning up to kiss her before moving his hands to the middle of her back to help her keep her center of gravity._

_“I can feel you,” he murmurs to her._

_Her cheeks turn that delightful shade of pink he loves so much and she tries to wiggle off of his lap. “No you can’t.”_

_Holding her in place, he just shakes his head at her. “I don’t think so, you’re here now so you gotta stay.”_

_“Jug,” she whines out, embarrassed._

_“Are you wet for me, Elizabeth?” he asks, running his fingers down her hips and across her legs to her inner thighs. “I think you are.”_

_Moving to push her robe off her shoulders, he lets it fall down to her bent elbows, catching in the crook of them as she holds onto his shoulders. Fighting the urge to run his mouth along her beautiful breasts, he gazes up at her once more._

_“I need you to answer me,” he tells her, hands falling back to her lower back to keep her in place._

_Betty leans forward, wrapping her arms around his neck as she whispers in his ear, her warm breath sending a shiver down his spine._

_“Wake up, Juggie.”_

He comes awake slowly. This time he can still smell Betty as he wakes up, still feel her. It’s like she’s in the room with him and it’s more like coming home after being at your second favorite place in the world.

Starting to stretch, he mourns the loss of the dream, hugging his pillow close, hoping if he thinks about it hard enough he’ll be able to keep the scent of her for as long as possible.

Thinking he hears a soft laugh, he keeps his eyes closed, trying to stay in the moment of the dream. The knowledge that that could be his life, he could marry his soulmate, have babies with her, be happy with her? It’s everything to him.  So much more than what he grew up with, two angry parents who might have loved each other once as he tries to shield his little sister from the worst of it.

“Jughead,” he hears murmured softly as he finally registers the presence of someone in the room with him.

Rolling over with wide eyes, he relaxes when he sees Betty’s smiling face.

“Sleepy?” she asks as he rubs his eyes, giving her a tired smile.

“Betty?”

“Are there any other blondes who visit your room I should know about?” she questions with a raised brow, pushing his hair off of his forehead.

“Just one,” he replies, stretching his hands over his head before reaching for her, pulling her down over him. “She likes to be called-”

“What?” Betty interrupts, laughing as he rolls her flat on her back with him hovering over her.

Leaning down, he nuzzles his nose into her neck, breathing her in before trailing soft kisses up to ear, whispering,  _“Elizabeth.”_

Smiling as he hears her breath catch, he moves up so he can look down into her face.

“Do you like that? When I say your name like that?”

Biting her lip and nodding, Betty’s hands come up to rest on his sides, moving along his ribs, making him shiver at her touch.

“Your hands are freezing,” he tells her, sitting back on his knees and taking her hands into his to rub them, trying to get them warmer. “Tell me you didn’t walk here.”

“I walked,” Betty admitted softly.

“We talked about this,” Jughead says, blowing onto her hands as he keeps rubbing them. “It’s cold and probably not safe-”

“Jug."

“I know, you’ve lived here longer than me, I have more chance of being kidnapped than you do, there’s probably pepper spray in a pocket somewhere on you that you’re more than willing to use on me if I continue to bitch and moan about this.”

“Thank you.” Betty pulls her hands back so she can sit up on her elbows. “I am going to start looking into getting my own car soon though, I promise.”

“A car? Did you win the lottery? Are you gonna be my sugar mama?” he asks, smirking at her as she looks unimpressed with him.

“If I remember right, the people with sugar mamas give to get.”

Climbing over her until she has to lay flat back on his bed, he lets some of his body weight fall onto her, rolling his hips into hers as he wedges a knee between her thighs. “I can definitely give you something.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“I think you like it,” he murmurs into her collarbone, pulling at the neck of her sweater with his teeth.

“Hey, this is one of my favorite sweaters,” she reprimands, pulling on his hair so he lets go of the fabric.

“Mine too,” he says, shaking his head to loosen her hand, going back to pulling at it with his teeth.

“It is not.”

Letting it go, he pulls at the collar with his finger. “Oh yeah it is. Look at this right here? Covering up these collarbones? Teasing me. Making me think about what I know is under there. So sexy.”

A huff escapes her. “Shut up.”

“You think I’m lying? I just sit and stare at these little embellishments sometimes, jealous they get to be on one of my favorite parts of Betty Cooper and I don’t.”

“Jug,” she mumbles, squirming under him.

Moving down to her hem with one hand, he traces his fingers under it, skimming her waist, gently tugging it up. “I think the sweater has had you long enough.”

Nodding, she arches her back, reaching down to pull it up and over her head, leaving her open to his gaze in a lavender lacy bra.

Taking the sweater from her, he tosses it on the floor before laying back over her and kissing her softly. Her legs move to go around his hips and he pushes himself against her, just the fabric of his boxers keeping him from feeling the seam of the denim of her jeans as he unconsciously rocks back and forth.

“Your shoes are hitting me in the ass.”

Betty looks at him with innocent eyes. “Maybe your ass is hitting my shoes.”

“Can I take them off?”

She’s breathing heavier than before when she tells him he can, her hands moving to cover her breasts as he sits up, pulling on her right shoe first.

“Hey,” he says, stopping her hands, “you’re beautiful. And besides, I’ve already seen them.”

Eyes narrowing at him, she stays silent but lets her arms fall to the side. He smiles at her as he moves to the left shoe, tossing it on the floor with the right one and her sweater.

“Are you having sex dreams, Jughead?”

“The best kind,” he informs her, moving to the button of her jeans. Tugging at her waistband he waits for permission before undoing them. “You wouldn’t believe what we get up to.”

“You’re not gonna tell me?”

Shaking his head, he starts moving her jeans off of her hips with her lifting up to help him as he pulls them down her legs, letting his fingers trail down her skin, leaving goosebumps in his path. When he finally gets them down to her ankles, he moves back, almost falling over as he yanks them off, sending Betty into a fit of giggles.

“Just for that, I’m never going to tell you about those dreams now,” he says, smiling as she pouts up at him, the affection he feels for her bubbling up.

Bending to drop kisses on her ribs, he moves down to her stomach, suddenly remembering the feeling of pure happiness from his dream and he lets his forehead rest against her abdomen as he grabs her hands, intertwining their fingers. He tightens his grip on her fingers as he takes a deep breath, pressing his lips against the softness of her stomach, eyes shut tight for a moment before composing himself.

Stretching out over her, he kisses her again, almost groaning at the feeling of her naked legs wrapping around his hips.

“You left my socks on,” she whispers as he’s nipping his way across her jaw, an amused tone coloring her voice.

“I didn’t want your feet to get cold,” he murmurs into her hair before sucking gently on her earlobe. “Besides, they’re sexy.”

“My socks?”

“Mmhmm.”

“They have penguins on them.”

Jughead shrugs as much as he can in the position he’s in. “Sexy penguins.”

Pulling a hand free he turns her head to the side with the push of a thumb under her jawline to give himself better access to her neck. A gentle bite on her collarbone has her jumping slightly against him, making him groan out loud at the quick friction.

Her breathing is heavy in the quiet of his room, her hips starting to snap into his as he rolls his down into hers.

“Can I do something?” he asks her, moving down and mouthing kisses over the tops of her breasts. “Please?”

“What?” she whimpers out, her knees moving up and locking onto his sides.

Biting down softly over a lace covered nipple before soothing it with his tongue as he moves to the next one, pulling the fabric down under the flesh of her breast, he lightly flicks the nipple with his tongue before a gentle nip makes her moan and grab at his shoulder to hold him in place.

“Can I taste you, Betty?” Making his way down her stomach, he moves his hands to her hips, pulling at the elastic of her panties.

Her eyes snap to his. She’s blinking slowly at him and he’s about to move up and kiss her worries away when she gives him a nod.

“Is that a yes?”

Hesitating, he can see her swallow nervously.

“Elizabeth, is that a yes?”

He thinks he sees her eyes dilate just a bit more before she gives him a soft, “Yes.”

“That’s my girl,” he says, starting to lower her panties off her hips and thighs, legs closing as soon as they’re past her ankles and tossed onto the pile of her clothes on the floor. “Oh no, I don’t think so, open those back up for me.”

Betty’s blushing brightly as his hands run over her knees, applying the barest bit of pressure to get her to part them.

“Look at you, doing so well,” he tells her. He remembers from the dream he’d had that she seems to thrive on praise. Jughead is fighting his nerves on talking to her like that but he knows she likes by the way her mouth parts at his words. “What a good girl you are.”

Her legs fall open and he feels struck dumb seeing her like this for the first time. He’s anxious about doing something he’s never done before but he thinks if he can just make it good for her, it’ll be worth the possible heart attack he’s about to give himself.

Starting to fidget because he’s just staring at her, Betty’s legs start to tremble and he can see her wanting to close them again when he pushes them down to the bed with the palms of his hands.

“Beautiful,” he promises her, crawling between her thighs, gently biting the soft inner flesh of her leg. Taking a deep breath, he ignores the part of his brain screaming that he doesn’t know how to do this and holds tightly to her legs as he runs his tongue along her for the first time.

He feels her jump, thighs twitching and he readjusts his grip on her legs, moving them over his shoulders so he can put his hands on her hips to keep her mostly still. He finds her clit with the tip of his tongue and flicks it, her loud moan telling him he’s doing something right. Continuing to run his tongue against her, he wonders if sliding a finger into her might be too much when his body goes faster than his brain and he’s moving a hand, searching the wet warmth of her before his finger almost slides in on its own, making her gasp loudly.

“Jug,” she whimpers out, hand grabbing onto his hair as she starts rolling her hips in rhythm with his tongue and finger.

Speeding up, he holds her firmly with one hand as he hears her breathing increase, her fingers tangling in his hair harder as she moves against him harder. Jughead can feel her start to shake as she pulls on her legs, trying to close them. Her moaning is getting brokenly louder, each shudder making the muscles under his hand contract, and he feels something that feels a lot like relief mixed in with pride at the knowledge that he did this to his girl.

He made her  _come._

She’s pushing him away at the same time she’s reaching for him, trying to yank at the waistband of his boxers and he doesn’t think he can survive her hands on him, straddling her hips before leaning down to kiss her deeply, distracting her from her goal, her nails biting into his shoulders.

Refocused, she reaches for him again and he’s the one too distracted to stop her before she’s got her hand inside of his boxers, wrapping warm fingers around him, stroking him as his back bows and he groans into her mouth, panting at the pace she’s setting. Pushing the waistband down with her other hand before latching onto his bare hip, she speeds her rhythm as he rests his forehead on her chest, hands tangling in the sheets as he feels the heat shooting up his spine, making his abdomen tremble and clench, knowing it’s almost over when he tries to pull back to avoid making a mess of her.

She’s not letting go of him and it takes all his concentration to get the words out. “Betty, I’m close, if I don’t move it’s gonna be messy.”

“I don’t care,” she tells him and he can feel the sheen of sweat on her chest as he rubs his face against her. “Make me a mess, Jughead.”

And so he does. 

He barely avoids falling onto her, sticking them together when the shivers rolling through him subside, letting him control his arms again and he rolls off of her to the side, seeing the mess he’s made of her.

“Holy fuck, Betty,” he says, running a hand through his hair. “That was amazing.”

Her breathing is still loud next to him. “Yeah it was.”

Feeling like he’s able to walk after catching his breath, he stands up, adjusting his boxers back over his hips. “Let me get you something to clean up with, okay?”

Nodding at him, Betty stays flat on her back as she pulls her bra back up and over her breasts, knees coming up and closing as she waits for him.

Leaning over the bathroom counter, he can’t stop smiling to himself as he waits for the water to warm up, running a washcloth under the stream, making sure it’s not too hot before taking it back to the bedroom and helping Betty clean her stomach up, throwing it into his hamper in the corner when he’s done.

“You know,” she says, gesturing for him to hand her her underwear, “I brought muffins over.”

“Muffins? And you didn’t say anything until now?”

“I got a little sidetracked.”

“We could have done both!” Jughead responds, adamant. “Muffins and orgasms? Best breakfast idea I’ve ever had.”

“Weirdo,” Betty says fondly. “We could have muffins in bed and watch a movie? Your dad left as soon as I got here.”

Jughead flushes. “I forgot about my dad being here. I’m glad someone was paying attention.” Grabbing his laptop, he sits it on her lap. “Here. Find something to watch and I’ll get the muffins.”

“Sounds good,” she tells him with a smile.

He leaves the room and makes his way to the small kitchen, intent on looking for juice to go with the bag Betty left on the counter. He’s debating on whether or not they have clean cups when he hears her moving around, loudly. Confused, he sets the juice down and starts back down the hallway when Betty comes out of the bedroom, tugging her shirt over her head with one hand while the other has her shoes in them.

“What?” He tries to stop her but she pushes him off of her and into the wall in her haste. “Betty-”

“No!” she shouts, pushing at him again when he tries to get a grip on her arm to find out what’s wrong.

Before he can reach her again she’s already down the hall and unlocking the door, running out without shoes into the cold air of the morning. Rushing into his own room for clothes so he can chase her down, he sees what sent her running. He feels his heart beating out of his chest as he grabs a shirt and pants, trying to shove his feet into his boots as he grabs for his beanie and jacket. Taking his phone off the nightstand, he throws the headline bold and bright on his laptop screen one last regretful glance as he runs after his girlfriend, hating himself for not letting her tell him herself.  

**_Riverdale Teen Takes Down Serial Killer Father_ **

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LOVE YOU. 
> 
> Just, you know, tossing that out there. For reasons totally unrelated to the end of that chapter. Seriously. 
> 
> Pure love. No manipulation involved. None. 
> 
> So, I mean, shit gets real next chapter, right? Whoa. It all comes out and hopefully Betty puts her shoes on? I hope so anyhow. 
> 
> Anyways, I really do love you guys and your comments and ish. It's the best. Like little drops of love on the caramel sundae of life. OF LIFE. Which comes with a sprinkling of besos just for you guys. 
> 
> BESOS! 
> 
> You can come [tumble](https://thetaoofbetty.tumblr.com/) with me if you want. Or if you wanna yell. I might deserve it this time.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently you guys do read these top notes? 
> 
> Hmm. Alright. 
> 
> So, this one time, I was sitting in gym class on the first day of school and we had numbers to sit on, right? There I was, just chilling and the girl next to me kept standing, but she moved and she was on my hand, right? Little baby Smudge wasn't good at confrontation so I tried to move my hand discreetly but couldn't get free so then I tried to gently tap on her shoe, it's not like she was doing it on purpose that I knew of, you know? 
> 
> I tapped. I knocked. I tugged on her shoelaces. I did it all before finally giving in and being like yoooooo, you're on my hand, stranger I've never seen before. She looks down, sees what she's doing before going, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" and moving her foot. 
> 
> I'm like it's fine, I love asphalt in my hand, it's cool and then the awkward silence pursues as the whole class watches as she pulls up her sweatpants to show me her prosthetic leg and the only thing I can think to say is, "Only shaving the one has got to save shower time." Much to my own mortification. 
> 
> And that, friends, is how I met one of the coolest chicks I ever knew. 
> 
> Now, read on friends!

“Come on, pick up, pick up, pick up,” he’s chanting as he tries to trace Betty’s steps out of Sunnyside, holding the phone to his ear with one hand while gripping Betty’s pink jacket tightly in the other. He’s thankful for the first time, ever, that she’d insisted he have Veronica’s number _just in case._

 _“Jones,"_ Veronica Lodge’s voice finally answers, sounding irritated.

Relieved she answered, he starts firing questions at her. “Have you seen Betty? Do you know where she might go if she was upset-”

_“What?!”_

“If she was mad or something, where would she go, Veronica?!”

 _“What did you do?”_ Veronica is screeching in his ear.

“Just tell me!” he shouts, stopping at a fork that leads either further into the Southside or towards the Northside. “I need to know right now.”

 _“You better tell me what you did,”_   Veronica seethes in his ear.

Letting his shoulders fall as he tilts his head back, remembering the look of devastation on her face he exhales a ragged breath. “I -I handed her my laptop to watch a movie and she saw-”

_“What? Do you have a girlfriend back in Omaha or wherever it is you’re from? Weird porn?”_

“Shut up, Veronica!” he shouts, remembering his dad’s motorcycle was still next to the trailer when he left. “This is on you too, you know. You and everyone keep giving me cryptic secrets regarding my girlfriend so I-”

 _“You Googled her? What the hell is wrong with you!?”_ she’s yelling into his ear. _"_ _I told you, Jughead, I told you not to hurt her-”_

“I fucked up, I know that, but don’t pretend you didn’t help set this all in motion and now I need to you tell me, _immediately,_ where the hell she would go,” he demands, trying to keep his breathing even as he runs back to Sunnyside. “Now, Veronica!”

_“Fine, but if she shows up here-”_

“You’ll call and tell me,” he cuts in.

He can hear her sigh. _“She has a favorite spot out by the river, I’ll text you a map of it.”_

“Thank you,” he says.

 _“Find her, Jughead,”_ she commands.  _“Now.”_

Hanging up as he runs back up the porch stairs to grab the motorcycle key off the counter, he picks up the helmet off the table before he bolts back outside the door, unsure if he even shut it.

Shaking off the nerves of only having ridden a motorcycle a few times previous back in Ohio, he fumbles with the helmet, almost dropping it before he gets it on his head, strap tightened under his chin. Pulling his phone out of his pocket he stares at the text Veronica sent him and can’t make sense of it. A map of a place he’s never been to before and has no idea how to get to has him frustrated enough to push back the tears threatening to break free.

His fists are clenching and he’s trying to breathe evenly when he remembers the app Betty insisted he put on his phone so they can find each other while he figured out how to get around Riverdale. Praying she hadn’t turned it off, he exhales in relief when he sees she hasn’t.

Between that and the map, he thinks he can do this. He can find her and hopefully she’ll let him explain himself.

 

* * *

 

He finds her standing next to the frozen river, shivering with her arms wrapped around herself. He’d had to leave the motorcycle off by the side of the road and he doesn’t know if she’d heard it or not, her body language not giving anything away as he approaches.

Seeing that she’s at least put her shoes on, he straightens the jacket in his hands as he steps up behind her and sets it around her shoulders.

“What do you want, Jug?” she asks, her voice wavering from the tears and the cold of the air.

His voice is soft and regretful. “I want you to listen to me.”

Betty scoffs. “Don’t you think you’ve done enough?”

Turning her to him, he pries her arms from around herself, working them into her coat so he can button it up, her eyes avoiding his face the entire time. Taking her gloves out of the pockets, he starts working them on her hands, brushing a soft kiss on each palm as he covers them up.

“I didn’t mean to go behind your back,” he promises, taking the beanie off his head and placing it on hers, pulling it down until it’s covering her ears, keeping his hands there to lock in some of the warmth.

“Then what were you doing?” she asks, head down. “Because it looked an awful lot like going behind my back.”

Jughead is slowly nodding even though she’s not looking at him. “Yeah, it’s a bad look, I know. Everyone was giving me these cryptic hints, my dad. Veronica-”

Betty’s head snaps up and he sees her red rimmed eyes for the first time, the remorse slamming harder into him.

“Veronica told you what exactly?”

“She warned me, told me everyone leaves you-”

Her face contorts and her lips start quivering as she fights back tears. “She had no right-”

“Maybe not,” he interrupts, rubbing his arms up and down her arms. “But she did and I wanted to know what you were hiding.”

“I’m so embarrassed,” Betty mutters into her hands, the tears falling as he pulls her into him, arms tight around her.

“Embarrassed of what?” he asks into her hair, his cheek pressed against her temple. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“It was nice, Jug, to be with someone who had no idea what happened. You didn’t look at me differently or act like-”

“Hey,” he says, cutting her off and tilting her chin up to meet his eyes. “Did I act differently this morning?”

The flush on Betty’s cheeks deepen and he smiles at her with soft affection.

“No, but-”

“No, no buts, I see you the way I’ve always seen you,” he tells her. “Smart and funny. Beautiful. Brave and fun to be around.” Leaning down he whispers into her ear, “Mine.”

He can almost feel her rolling her eyes at him as he says it, but he’s trying to reassure her that he doesn’t see her differently. If anything he’s more in awe of her than he was before.

Betty sniffs, turning her head to the side, trying to discreetly wipe off her cheeks. Trying to stop her from getting her gloves wet in the cold weather, he uses his thumbs to rub the leftover trail of tears off her face before putting his arms back around her.

“I was gonna tell you,” she whispers to him, her forehead resting on his chest. “I swear.”

“About your dad?”

“About all of it. Everything,” she says brokenly. “I promise, I wasn’t trying to hide it, but if after -if you don’t- if you don’t want-” She’s trying to control her breathing as she cuts herself off, trying to fight back more tears.

“Hey, that won’t happen,” he promises, tightening his hold on her.

“It could.”

Jughead shakes his head even though he knows she can’t see him. Kissing the top of her head, he breathes her in deeply. “It won’t. Come on, let’s go get warm okay?”

 

* * *

 

With a precarious ride back to Sunnyside, he ushers Betty up the trailer steps, a little surprised he managed to close the front door as he leads her through it and back to his bedroom.

He put the helmet on her over his beanie so he tries not to smile as she stares up him with a red nose and his hat sitting crooked on her head. Peeling off her gloves and setting them on his bedside table, he starts to unbutton her coat as she bites her lip nervously.

“You know,” he starts, lifting his eyebrows at her, “I have to say that undressing you is quickly becoming one of my very favorite things.”

When she gives him an annoyingly amused smile, he breathes a little easier.

“There she is,” he murmurs, pulling her coat off her shoulders and throwing it on a chair sitting across the room. “Come on.”

Sitting her down on the edge of the bed, he closes his laptop, tossing it aside with a glare, berating himself for leaving that page up and open and not thinking before he’d handed it to her. Sliding his hands down her legs, he takes her shoes off, wincing when he sees the bottoms of her socks are dirty, knowing it’s from running away from him. Dropping them as he removes them, he leans in for a quick kiss, smiling at her offended expression.

Kicking off his boots, ignoring Betty’s laugh at his bare feet, he maneuvers himself until he can tug her back on the bed with him, situating her between his legs as he wraps his arms around her, settling his chin on her shoulder.

“I’m listening,” he says softly, waiting for her to be ready to speak.

He can feel her shudder as she sucks in a breath before she leans back against him.

“It started when I was fifteen,” she starts, fidgeting with her hands, “and I got this letter.”

He listens quietly as she tells him the whole thing. It started with a letter. Then a cipher of some kind. Clues involving her favorite books as a kid -Nancy Drew. Phone calls after that. Threatening her friends, everyone she cared about. Blackmailing her. Controlling her. She cut herself off, she blew up her friendships to keep everyone safe but it didn’t work. It was never enough.

Nothing was ever enough.

Not when she did what he told her to do, not when she didn’t. Not when she was sent a finger in the mail, not the nightmares and the horrible memories that ringtone still brings up. Not when she figured out it was her dad on some macabre quest to cleanse the town of sin, as if his own were somehow exempt.

It was bad enough, she tells him, when she had to watch him try and kill her own mother before trying to kill her too. Her older sister, Polly, had left for college that year, she informs him, her relief palpable. He learns that Polly hasn’t come home, not once since their dad was arrested, preferring instead to spend all of her time and energy on her boyfriend, Jason Blossom who is Cheryl’s twin brother, the resident mean girl who used to be the captain of the River Vixens.

“It was bad, Jug,” she whispers to a quiet room. “Our house was like a sideshow. People came to stare at us, they took pictures. Mom kept it out of the local papers but you know how people are.”

He’s nodding behind her, arms wrapping even tighter around her middle. “I’m sorry, Betty.”

She shakes her head, an empty sounding laugh bubbling out of her. “That’s not all of it. If only-”

“If only what?”

“If it would have stopped there, it would have been fine -well not fine but you know what I mean.”

Brushing his lips across her temple, he nods softly. “Yeah.”

“My mom, she lost it a little bit,” Betty tells him, shrugging. “It’s not like I don’t get it, she was married to someone for twenty years and they turned out to be a serial killer, I might lose it too.”

“Betty-”

“What?”

Jughead squeezes her a little bit tighter. “Don’t do that, don’t diminish what you went through for someone else. He’s your dad, he stalked you and terrorized you, you’re allowed to handle it badly.”

“I did, trust me,” she says sadly. “My mom, she was useless, she was focused on her own issues and pain. Polly was gone. Archie, Kev, and Veronica, they all tried to help but they didn’t get it.”

“Of course not,” he murmurs in agreement.

“I -I ended up going to see him. For answers, you know?” Betty takes a deep breath, her hands folding in her lap as she tries to continue. “I didn’t tell anyone what I was doing, I just wanted to know why.”

Jughead closes his eyes, understanding that much. The desire for answers about why parents are willing to do the things they do to their children. Thinking of the dream he’d had that morning, he can’t imagine seeing someone, someone who might have Betty’s eyes and his hair looking up at him with disappointment on their face.

“I kept going back. I don’t know why. He was willing to listen? It was almost like having my dad back sometimes? I know now he was manipulating me at the time, I do, but I went back for months, Jughead. I lied to everyone about it-”

“Oh Betty,” he breathes out, pulling her further into him.

“No one noticed, not really. And when my mom finally found out, she pulled some strings, I don’t know how, but she had him moved to some other prison and I found a therapist to go to instead.” She sniffs and wipes her cheek but doesn’t move other than to lay her head back on his shoulder. “I’m not working with my mom, I think you should know. I’m really going to my therapist’s office.”

Before he can respond, the loud pounding on the door startles both him and Betty.

“Who’s that?” she asks, sitting up to turn and look at him.

Shaking his head, he crawls off the bed, heading towards the door. “I don’t know. Stay here, okay? Just in case it’s someone my dad screwed over or something.”

Betty gives him a nod he doesn’t believe for a second before the pounding starts up again, making him roll his eyes. Getting closer he finally hears the yelling.

“I know you have her in there, Jughead Jones!”

He almost stops and turns around to head back into his bedroom until she goes away but he hears Betty behind him and he sighs, letting his shoulders fall in defeat.

“What?” is all Betty asks from behind him.

Gesturing to the door, he twists his mouth in irritation as the pounding resumes on the door, making it rattle in its frame.

“What the hell, Veronica?” she mutters to herself, walking to the door and opening it herself.

“Betty! I was worried about you,” Veronica declares, pushing her way through the door.

Jughead rolls his eyes at her before spotting Archie standing sheepishly on the porch.

 _Great,_ he thinks,  _they’re both here. This is just what I wanted to happen this morning._

“Why?” Betty asks, turning to stare at her friend with her hands on her hips.

“This one,” Veronica says accusingly, pointing at Jughead, “called me asking where you would run off too if you were upset.”

“Jug?” Betty spins to look at him.

“I was desperate to find you,” he admits, his face falling into a regretful expression.  

“What did he do?” Veronica questions as Archie takes a step inside, closing the door behind himself while trying to blend in with the wall.

“Veronica!” Betty exclaims. “What are you doing here?”

“I told you-”

“I know you told me Jughead called you, but why would you show up here? How do you know where he lives?”

“I-”

“Why would you give him some sort of cryptic breadcrumb trail to follow, V? Were you trying to push him away from me?”

“No, of course not-”

“It’s almost like you set him up to fail, you know that right? He’s done nothing to you, his very existence seems to piss you off-”

“You know why!”

Betty nods. “I do. And it’s not enough.”

“Betty-”

“No, it’s not enough. Should we be judged for the sins of our parents, Veronica? Do you not understand how hypocritical that is?”

Jughead is watching them face off, Betty’s stubborn stance matching Veronica’s. Her hair is a mess and she’s barefoot with red rimmed eyes but she still looks more fierce than he’s ever seen her.

“Betty, he just showed up, out of nowhere and just what? Decided-”

“Decided what, Veronica?” Betty asks dangerously. “Please tell me how a guy showing up and showing interest in me is unbelievable.”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“What did you mean then?”

“Maybe he knew who you were, maybe he knows about the money-”

Jughead’s head snaps to stare at Veronica in surprise. “What are you talking about? What money? Are you calling me a golddigger? Betty?”

Betty points at him. “See? He doesn’t even know. I haven’t told him yet because I wanted to tell him everything in my own time. I was having a _very_ good morning, Veronica-”

At that Jughead can’t help but smile to himself, his smile widening as he catches the grimace on Archie’s face.

“-and because someone always thinks they know what’s best for me, it was ruined.”

“I’m sorry, Betty, I am. I’ve watched people not be able to handle dating Hal Cooper’s daughter for the last year, I don’t want to see it happen again.”

“You didn’t even try to get to know him, you didn’t even ask me about him, you tried to get me to go out with other guys-”

“Wait, what? What the hell, Veronica?” Jughead interrupts, angry. “Why would you do that?”

Veronica ignores him. “Betty, that was weeks ago, before you were even dating him.”

“Is that when you told Archie all those things to say to me?” Jughead says suddenly, his face set in anger.

“What?” Betty almost whispers. “What are you talking about?”

He can see Veronica swallow nervously. Betty turns to him, meeting his eyes with hurt etched all over her features.

“What did he say to you?” she asks him, her shoulders falling.

“B-”

“Don’t talk to me right now,” Betty snaps, not even looking at Veronica.

Jughead almost feels bad for her. Almost. If she had given him half a chance, even just been decently civil, they wouldn’t be where they are right now.

“Archie,” Jughead starts, gesturing behind her to where Archie was still leaning against the door still, “said some stuff awhile back about me not knowing you like he does, that he was probably your soulmate.” Hesitating before he keeps going, he steps forward to take her hands in his. “That I didn’t know about your family.”

Betty inhales sharply, her whole body stiffening at that last part. He sees her squeeze her eyes shut as she grips his hands tightly. When her eyes open, they’re determined.

“Why?” she questions Veronica, turning to her, keeping hold of one of his hands. “You can’t tell me you want to protect me then try to hurt me so badly at the same time, Veronica.”

“You weren’t dating him yet, Betty,” Veronica pleads with her. “I promise you, I left it alone once you two became official.”

“But why?”

Veronica has no answer. Or none that would justify the choices she’s made. She just shrugs helplessly at Betty, blinking rapidly, fighting her own tears.

“He was never going to hurt me, Veronica,” Betty informs her quietly.

Veronica wipes her cheeks, sniffing before standing up straighter. “You couldn’t have known that.”

“I did. I do.” Betty intertwines their fingers together, pulling him closer to her side, wrapping her free hand around his arm. “I told you he was eighteen already-”

Veronica’s gasp cuts her off and she stares hard at Jughead. “You lie.”

Jughead shakes his head at her. “I’m not the liar in the room, Veronica.”

“You just believed him?” she asks Betty, gesturing to Jughead. “With his family’s history, your family’s history, the money-”

“Okay,” Jughead interrupts, irritated, “what money is she talking about?”

Betty twists to look up at him. “There was a reward for catching my -my dad. It’s-” She takes in centering breath. “-a lot of money, most of it is in a trust until I’m eighteen but I have access to part of it now.”

“How do you know, Betty, that he’s not lying?” Veronica asks, crossing her arms. “No one can prove the dreams, you know that!”

“I believe him,” Betty says softly, looking at both Veronica and Archie. “You don’t have to, I don’t care, but he’s got no reason to lie to me. His life would be easier if I wasn’t his soulmate, you both know that.”

Archie, gives Betty a sad smile before turning to open the door. “If you’re happy, Betty, that’s good enough for me. Come on, Ronnie.”

“Archie-” Veronica starts, looking torn.

“Let’s go,” he insists, holding the door open for her. “Sorry, Betty. Jughead. I’ll see you Monday, okay?”

“Bye, Arch,” is all Betty says as she turns into Jughead and away from her friends. Jughead gives him a sharp nod before wrapping his arms around her, waiting for the door to close before speaking.

“So,” he starts, “what I’m hearing is, you’re definitely my sugar mama?”

He smiles when she does, laughing when she scrunches her nose at him in faux annoyance.

“I will concede to letting you help me pick out a car.”

“I don’t know anything about cars.”

“I know, I just need you to look pretty and stay quiet,” she informs him, pulling him down to meet her lips in a kiss.

He sighs as he sees her face fall. “I’m sorry about Veronica, Betty.”

Her lower lip trembles as she nods slowly at him. “Yeah. Me too.”

“You’ll figure it out. I’m sure she’ll apologize in some over the top Veronica Lodge way, you know, something slightly tone deaf but well meaning? Am I close?”

Betty laughs. “That sounds about right.”

He cups her cheeks in his hands, tilting her face towards his. “Hey.”

“Hi.”

“You know that I love you, right?”

“What?” she breathes out, her eyes going wide.

“I love you,” he says again. “It feels like I always have. Like a constant; the sky is blue, the grass is green, I love Betty Cooper, you know, the usual.”

She smiles brightly before biting her lip, eyes watering. “I love you too. Just so you know.”

Sighing in relief, he kisses her. “Oh good, I’d hate to think I was just going to be a notch on your bedpost.”

“Who says you’re not?”

Pulling his head back, he raises an eyebrow at her. “You’re an enigma, Cooper.”

Laughing lowly at him, she shakes her head at him but he catches the shiver that runs through her.

“Are you still cold?”

Nodding, she burrows herself into his chest, seeking warmth.

“You know,” he says, drawing it out like he’s debating on the words even as he’s saying them, “I hear showers are a good way to get warm.”

“You sure about that? You don’t sound sure.”

“Well, I have been taking a lot of cold ones lately so, you know, my knowledge could be outdated,” Jughead tells her.

Considering him, Betty almost makes him shrink back with the weight of her stare. “Was that an offer or an invitation?”

Eyes widening, he almost chokes in shock at her reply. “Uh -oh uhm, it can be anything you want it to be? Both? Neither? One of them but not the other?”

“Which do you prefer?”

“Me?” He clears his throat, trying not to think of a wet, naked Betty in his shower with him so he can speak. “I mean, obviously the one where I get to see you naked?”

“Is that a question?”

“No, no, definitely not a question, more like a suggestion.” Leaning down, he runs the bridge of his nose along her jaw. “I think you’ll find I have plenty of them.”

“Do you?”

“Wanna hear some?”

Her head falls back as he nips at her earlobe, her fingers twisting into his shirt. “Definitely.”

 

* * *

 

Standing under the hot shower spray, he’s taking in the peaceful look on her face as she leans against him while he massages the shampoo into her hair. Fingers tangling around the wet strands, darkened by the water, if he moves his head to the side, he can see the slide of the water as it runs down the lines of her body. Over and between her breasts, falling to the sides of her hips as it crosses the softness of her stomach.

The barely there sting of envy as the water makes its way to the apex of her thighs, the smug satisfaction of having been there already today bringing a smile to his face.

Turning her around so she can rinse her hair, he grabs the bar of soap, lathering it between his hands. Maybe he shouldn’t be pleased she’s going to smell like him, his soap, his shampoo, but he is. Putting his hands on her as she moves out from under the spray, staring at him through wet eyelashes, he lets his palms move in circles on her ribs before moving up towards her shoulders.

Caressing her neck, rubbing the soap across her clavicles, he watches her grab the conditioner he doesn’t even remember buying, running it through her hair as his hands slip down over her breasts, making his own breath catch at the feel of his hands on her.

He’d already touched her, _tasted her,_ that morning and he didn’t think he’d ever get enough. Anyone who’d ever said that there could be too much of a good thing didn’t have the privilege of a naked Betty Cooper standing in front of them.

“Hi,” she whispers to him, grabbing the shampoo before massaging it into his hair the way he did for her.

“Hi,” he whispers back, his hands gliding around her back, working the lather of the soap into her skin. “You’re beautiful.”

She smiles. “You’re biased.”

“I’m lucky.”

“How lucky are you feeling?”

Jughead’s shock must be evident on his face as Betty laughs at his expression.

“Are you sure?”

“Do I seem like someone who doesn’t know what they want?”

He forgets he’s standing in the shower with shampoo in his hair and his hands on a naked Betty Cooper for a moment. “We can wait until your birthday, if you want. This is enough for me.”

Betty narrows her eyes. “I know what I want, Jughead. I always have. The whole idea of soulmates and the dreams is free will.” Sliding her hands down his stomach she makes soft circles with the tips of her fingers. “Do you know what my free will is saying?”

Clearing his throat nervously, he catches her hands before he starts laughing at being tickled. “What’s that?”

“That it wants to finish what it started this morning.”

Wrapping his arms around her he walks them both under the water, rinsing them off, helping her work the conditioner out of her hair before sticking his own head under the spray.

Giggling, she moves behind him, pushing him further into the water as she grabs a towel, pulling it around her before using the one he grabbed for himself on her hair.

“Hey!” he exclaims with fake offense.

“Sorry, Jug, girlfriend and soulmate privilege.”

Still laughing, she walks out of the bathroom, leaving him towelless and dripping wet in the shower.  

“You’re going to pay for that!” he calls to her, gingerly reaching for a hand towel and trying to blot himself dry.

“I’m so scared,” is all he gets in response, the sounds muffled through the wall.

Sighing to himself, he decides to shake it off like a dog before making a mad dash out of the door and into his room, running straight into Betty as she’s holding a towel up for him.

“Oh no, it’s too late now,” he threatens, taking the towel from her and letting it drop to the floor. Kicking the door shut, he moves himself further into her space as she backs up with wide eyes.

Yanking on the towel curled around her, he smirks in satisfaction when it drops, leaving her bare to him.

“Jug!”

“Now you’re shy? I don’t think so,” he says lowly, walking her further backward until the edge of his mattress hits the backs of her knees, making her sit with an _oomph._

“What are you doing?”

Kneeling on the carpet, he pushes her knees apart with his hands, making her breath hitch as he grabs onto her inner thighs, pushing them up and to the side. She falls back as she loses her balance, a gasp catching in her throat.

“So pretty,” he murmurs as he works gentle kisses into the skin of her thighs. His fingers are biting into her flesh as he holds them firmer when she starts to squirm. Breathing against her, he’s still nervous though he knows he’s already done this before. Each time he touches her feels like a new revelation and he fervently hopes it’s always like this.

The first flick of his tongue against her makes her hips jump, something he’d been expecting but he tightens his grip on her anyway. The slight suction of her clit between his lips makes her groan a sound he wants to hear over and over again as he pushes kisses against her when he moves a hand to try and work a finger into her. Slipping in easily, he licks her softly as he moves in and out, sliding a second finger in as she gets wetter, her moaning into the room growing louder and her hands in his hair tightening with each pass of his tongue on her.

Ignoring the ache in his back and knees, he puts more speed into the fingers sliding in and out of her, sucking more firmly on her clit as he caresses it with his tongue, her legs trying to jump around him. His hands are on one of them, holding it in place when her free leg wraps around the back of his neck, keeping him where she wants him as he feels her edge over into her climax, thighs trembling and body almost jerking with the aftershocks as she calls his name loudly, her body going lax as she comes down.

Leaning back, he’s breathing as heavy as she is as he rubs the back of his hand across his chin.

“Good?” he asks, somewhat nervous even though he knows she came.

Blinking at him as she gingerly works herself up onto her elbows, she nods at him. “Yeah. Real good.”

“Good.”

Smiling at him, she reaches out a hand towards him. “Come here.”

His knees feel a little weak as he tries to stand, forgetting for a second that he’s completely naked in front of her. Flushing, he avoids her eyes as she pulls him down over her.

“I think,” she starts, her voice still breathy from panting, “that if you can put your head between my thighs, I get to see all that the universe made for me.”

His eyes snap to hers. “You think I’m your soulmate?”

“Never had any doubt,” she confirms, wrapping her arms around his neck, kissing him deeply before maneuvering him onto his back so she can straddle his hips. “Not even this world is that cruel.”

“You don’t think so?” he asks, putting his hands on her hips to hold her steady as she stares down at him.

Shrugging, she settles her hands on his forearms. “Even if it is, it’ll have to fight me before I willingly give you up.”

Sitting up so quickly she almost topples off him, he brings his hands up to her cheeks, kissing her before resting his forehead against hers.

“I love you,” he whispers to her, running his hands down her back, pulling her against him.

He can feel her smile against his lips as she breathes out _“I love you too”_ against them.

“Are you sure?” he asks, his gaze piercing at he looks into her eyes.

“I want you,” she tells him. “All of you.”

Reaching for his bedside table drawer, he pulls out one of the condoms his dad had thrown at him after learning he was dating Betty. Something that embarrassed him at the time but is now infinitely grateful for.

They both start laughing as they try and get it open and put on, almost dropping it to the floor at least twice before successfully rolling it in place.

“You ready?” he ask her, helping her situate herself over him.

She’s staring into his eyes as she lowers herself, sliding down on him with a wince, visibly trying to relax her body against his. “Yeah.”

“You okay?”

“Mmhmm,” she hums out, settling down harder onto his lap, the slight grimace crossing her face waning with each passing second.

He thought he knew what it would feel like, being inside Betty Cooper for the first time, the dreams providing him a sense of reality but this is so much more than he could have imagined, real or otherwise. The warmth of her spreading through him as she tentatively moves up and down, the pressure of her fingers as they dig into his shoulders, the feel of her own back under his hands as he holds onto her, all far more amazing than his best dreams of her.

Wrapping her arms around him, she’s pressing her breasts against him, breathing heavily into his ear as moves his hands to her hips, helping her keep a steady rhythm. He’s trying to think of something to say to her, something that might tell her how much he loves her when he speaks without thinking.

“You’re so good.”

Feeling her clench around him spurs him further, remembering the dreams he’s had and that she _likes_ the things he has to say to her.

Pushing her hair to the side, away from her neck, he brushes his nose against her throat as he tells her, “You’re such a good girl for me.”

She moans softly, the slip and slide of her against him almost distracting him from his goal. He doesn’t think she can come again, not for their first time but he still wants her to know that he’s going to give her what she needs.

“You’re so beautiful, aren’t you? Trying so hard to make me come just for you.”

Her breathing is becoming as fast as his as he keeps babbling into her ear.

“That’s what you want, isn’t it? To show me how good you can be for me?”

She’s nodding against him as he runs a hand across her hair, his other hand on her hip, trying to keep them both steady as she moves faster on him.

“You want me to come?”

“Yes,” she murmurs into his ear, breath hot against his ear.

“Then do it, Betty, make me come for you like the perfect girl I know you are.”

Her nails are biting into the skin of his back as she works herself harder on him, moving faster until he can’t do more than breathe against her, holding her to him, mumbling nonsense into her throat until it feels like electricity is racing up his spine as she throws him over the edge, the loud moan of her name muffled by him biting his lip in surprise and satisfaction.

Trying to catch his breath, he leans back, pushing her hair out of her face as she smiles a timid yet victorious smile at him.

“I think the universe knows what it’s doing, how about you?”

Laughing, she pushes him back on his bed, curling herself into him. “I think it might have gotten this right, at least.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE SMUTTENING, IT HAS ARRIVED. 
> 
> Also, ahem. I wrote part of this while super sick. As in, like a dummy. So, if it was bad, I think you should write a letter to whichever drug I was taking. Honestly not even sure anymore. Probably one of the 'Quils tbh. 
> 
> So, in case anyone wants to ask me, no I don't hate Veronica. Like, in canon she's sort of flighty at best sometimes as a friend lately but I think Riverdale wants us to genuinely believe she and Betty are bffs. They're just not showing us that? Which, I'm not a fan of since Kevin has an obvs preference for Veronica in the show as well. It really leaves Betty alone a lot, depending on Jughead for a lot of her emotional needs to the point where she's talking to her murderer dad instead of her bffs. I...do not love that. 
> 
> Now, I do use comic characterization a lot and Ronnie has shown in the past the ability to be selfish and self absorbed. Betty is neither of those things and I wanted Betty to really confront Veronica on the things she's been passive about up until now. Veronica tends to steamroll situations and Betty needed to tell her that it's not okay this time. So, that's how you get this chapter. 
> 
> Ahem. Also the smut. Hah. Hey man, I am who I am. 
> 
> Anyways, also I want to thank whoever took the time to nominate me for all of those Bughead fic awards! It was so lovely of you guys to even think of me while putting forth the effort to nominate so many wonderful authors. Besos to you all! 
> 
> I love you guys and your comments, they're like the cheese in my grilled cheese. Which is to say they're the reasons these stories happen the way they do so thank you again and more besos than you can possibly handle! 
> 
> As always, you can come [tumble](https://thetaoofbetty.tumblr.com/) with me if you want.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOHOO HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOOOO 
> 
> Okay, I just wanted to yell? Like, I'm into it? The yelling. Feels good. Feels right. 
> 
> Anyway, my dog is currently trying to excavate my booty for some reason, I mean, that sounds weird? He's digging on my legular area trying to play with me but also, rude, dog, I am trying to type. 
> 
> But the real question is, are you ready? I'm ready. I am fucking Spongebob levels of ready for this. Let's go, friends.

**_May 6th (Evening)_ **

_“I just want you to know, whatever happens or doesn’t happen tonight that I love you, I’ll never stop loving you, okay?”_

 

* * *

 

**December**

“Betty, there’s something you need to know,” Veronica tells her with a guilty look.

They’ve been trying to get back to where they were before the blow up in Jughead’s trailer, but it’s been slow going.

She knows Veronica is remorseful. Betty knows when she’s being insincere and she’s definitely not, but her own feelings are still bruised over the idea that Veronica thought she isn’t capable of making her own choices when it comes to her love life. What Jughead’s dad did to both of their mothers is a terrible thing but there’s nothing about it that is actually Jughead’s fault.

FP Jones chose the lies he told, he chose the life he led and is leading, and none of it has anything to do with Jughead other than the fact that those choices resulted in him being born who he was and that’s fine by Betty.

A cruel statement, she thinks when she thinks about the lives their parents have lived. Alice Smith dreamt of no one, Betty knows. Or, at least that’s the story she’s been told. Her parents made the choice to be together, the universe didn’t give them a road map.

The story of how Hermione Gomez was head over heels in love with Fred Andrews but dreamt of Hiram Lodge is one Betty heard only once from Veronica herself. Throwing herself into the fantasy of having a soulmate was something she couldn’t deny herself after getting stung so badly by FP Jones and the damage he left in his wake.

If she got the life she wanted, Betty doesn’t know. But as she looks at Veronica, waiting for her to tell her what she’s been keeping to herself, she thinks Hermione Lodge got the life she worked for.

“What?” Betty asks, but it’s not unkind, just curious.

Veronica is fidgeting with her pearls as she steels herself, making Betty nervous. “You know how my mom can always get your mom to agree to whatever it is she was going full banshee over?”

Narrowing her gaze at her, Betty nods.

“I overheard them once but I decided not to tell you, not to add any more to your plate because I know how hard last year was for you.”

“What did you overhear?”

Veronica sighs loudly, sitting next to her on the sofa in the Blue and Gold where she’d tracked her down to. “When you were still talking to your dad, you remember when your mom found out?”

Betty gives her a sharp nod. Those memories aren’t ones she enjoys revisiting, they’re usually saved for her therapy sessions.

“Your mom showed up at the Pembrooke, I heard her and my mother talking about having your dad moved to a prison out of state, to keep you from regressing and having the option to go back to him.”

“What?” Betty is breathless. Once again, she’d been lied to, they’d told her he requested the move. She knows it was a good thing, his transfer. It had taken a lot of hard work on her part to see the manipulations and wrongness of what turning to her killer father for support was doing to her but she had seen it.

She still sees it.

And they’re still lying to her about it.

“My mother agreed and told yours that it would make them more than even.”

“More than even?”

“I have to assume part of it is the past with Jughead’s dad and my own mother having a little bit of leverage on the person in charge of the town’s only newspaper.”

“Why wouldn’t you just tell me that?”

Veronica tries to reach for her hand but she pulls back, making Veronica flinch. “You were struggling so badly, B. No one wanted to add more to your plate.”

Betty stands quickly, grabbing her bag and heading to the door, eager to escape. “You don’t get to decide how much I can handle.”

Indignant, Veronica bolts upright. “You certainly let Jughead help you decide what you can and can’t handle-”

“Jughead?” Betty cuts in, confused. “He’s my soulmate-”

“No,” Veronica interrupts, “you’re _his._ Those are very different things.”

Stung, Betty rears back at the harsh words. “He was right, wasn’t he? All those weeks ago when he told me you were jealous and that’s why you hated him.”

“I don’t want your boyfriend, Betty,” she scoffs, looking almost amused at the thought.

Shaking her head, Betty waves her off. “No. Not jealous of me. Of him. That he was somehow going to take me away from you.”

“He has, hasn’t he?”

“No. I had hoped that my boyfriend and my best friend would get along but you’re too narrow minded to even get that he makes me happy. I don’t care who his dad is. I don’t care what his dad did. My dad is a _murderer,_ Veronica, did you really think I was going to judge him for his dad being a liar?”

It looks like the wind is knocked out of Veronica as she finally realizes why Betty doesn’t care about FP Jones or what he’s done. What is a life altering lie when your father is someone who took pleasure in taking lives in the name of righteous idealism that was nothing more than a justification for his madness?

“You’re so focused, Veronica, on what you can and can’t control and making sure it’s all done to your specifications that you fail to see the bigger picture a lot of the time. This was never about Jughead-”

“Yes, it was-”

“No, it wasn’t, it was always about your version of what is and what should be. You’re one of the most important people in my life but you’re not the center of it. The world doesn’t revolve around you and what you want,” Betty tells her, shoulders slumping. “You know, for all you care about me being away from my dad, you didn’t even notice I was going there in the first place. And I don’t blame you for it. I did what I wanted to do, it was my choice to go there.”

“Betty-”

“I know you think you’re doing the best thing for me but you don’t get a say in what that is. This is my life and I don’t care if I dream of Jughead or not. I know we’re meant to be, I can feel it. I want you to be part of my life, V, I do. I want you to be at my wedding and there when I have kids-”

“With Jughead?”

Betty nods, smiling to herself. “He rarely talks to me about the dreams, something I asked him to do before you decide he’s lying about them again, but sometimes he slips and mentions something about them. The ones where we’re married and starting a family? I think he likes those best because his face, Veronica, he looks so happy. I wish you could see what I do when I look at him.”

“Are we ever going to be okay?”

Betty meets Veronica’s eyes. “I hope so.”

 

* * *

 

**January**

_“Jughead!” Betty yells from the bathroom, making him jump up and run towards her voice._

_Having just moved into their new apartment, he’s been worried about finding something gross or weird, like that time he and his mom found a pair of bird legs on a high shelf in a house they were renting in Ohio. Not the bird, not a stuffed toy, not a decoration. Just a pair of birds legs._

_He didn’t eat chicken for six months after that._

_Skidding into the bathroom, he sees a soaking wet Betty, hair dripping onto the tile floor._

_“What’s wrong?” he asks, trying to catch his breath from his mad dash._

_Raising her eyebrow at him, she’s got the handle to the shower head in her hand. “Do you remember when I asked you to check and make sure the shower works?”_

_“Yeah, of course.”_

_“Did you, I don’t know, leave it facing out so whenever someone turned it on they’d get sprayed in the face?”_

_Stifling a laugh, he takes in her soaking wet hair, relaxing now that he knows nothing terrifying is happening. “In my defense, I didn't mean to.”_

_“Oh, you think this is funny?”_

_Shrugging, he smiles at her in amusement. “A little, yeah.”_

_“Hmm,” Betty hums out, looking him over with narrowed eyes, “Interesting.”_

_“What is?”_

_Giving him a face he knows means trouble as soon as her eyes widen, he only manages to take a step back before he sees her reach for the faucet handle, turning it on full blast and spraying him in the face._

_“Is it still funny?” she asks, laughing as he bats at the water trying to make its way up his nose._

_He can’t help himself before he starts laughing, reaching for the hose and trying to pull the handle out of her hands. “Give that here!”_

_“No!” she exclaims, laughing as she tries to spray the water up his shirt._

_Getting control of the shower head, he turns it on her as she yells and tries to run past him out into the hallway. Stepping into her way, he keeps her in the bathroom, the chilly water running down her back as she laughs and pushes at him, yelling at him to let her by._

_“I don’t think so, baby,” he tells her, soaking himself just as much as her as they fight over control of the water. Betty grabs at the faucet when she turns around, trying to turn it off before standing in the back of the shower, as far away from him as she can get._

_Walking towards her, he sets the shower head back in place before turning the water to warm, letting it heat up as he takes his shirt off, tossing it outside of the shower where it lands with a splat, making Betty start laughing. Going for his belt, he unbuckles it before he stops in front of her._

_“If you wanted to get me wet, all you had to do was say so,” he murmurs to her, pushing her soaked hair off her face._

_Staring at him through hooded eyes, she smirks at him, reaching for the zipper of his jeans. “Shouldn’t that be my line?”_

“Nooooo,” Jughead groans into his pillow, frustrated. “Why?”

He almost kicks his legs like a toddler having a tantrum at the dream cutting off there. Still reeling from the feelings of joy and arousal, he’s trying to even his breathing as he thinks about the details of the dream. They were living together, he knows. Maybe for the first time? They both looked only a couple years older than they are now, if that.

It was nice, he decides. Bright. Open. The sun was shining and Betty’s happiness was palpable even through her annoyance. He doesn’t know where it is and he doesn’t much care, if that’s a peek of the life he’s going to get to live, none of the non-essential stuff matters to him.

Even if it cut off just when it was about to get even better. Which had started happening with more frequency after he and Betty started sleeping together. He feels a little cheated, if he’s honest.

 _No double dipping apparently,_ he thinks as he sighs loudly into the pillow he’s scrunched under his head.

Finally getting the courage to check his phone, he’s pleasantly surprised when he sees it’s almost time to get up for the day. The last time he had a soulmate dream, he ended up in the shower for far too long, the hot water beating on down his back as he rested his head against the wall, working himself over and trying not to wake his dad up by moaning Betty’s name too loudly.

He’s still smiling when he eats his cereal, relaxing into the chair at the kitchen table when his dad walks by, heading toward the bathroom.

“What’re you so happy about?”

Without thinking, Jughead shrugs and shoves a spoonful of cereal in his mouth before saying, “I had a great dream.”

He realizes what he’s said at the same time his dad does, staring at him with wild eyes, all the pieces starting to fall together at once.

“Betty?”

A slow nod is all Jughead gives him as he refuses to look away.

“She know?”

Another nod.

FP furrows his brows, rubbing a hand over his face. “Good. Do better than I did, okay? I love your mom but I think she was my karma, kid. I don’t suggest screwing over anyone with Alice’s blood in their veins.”

Almost choking on a laugh, Jughead sets his bowl down. “I love Betty, I wouldn’t do that to her.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think so. You’re a better person than I ever was.”

He stays quiet as he watches his dad walk down the small hallway, thinking about what he’d said. His parents never talked about whether they were soulmates or not, something about not wanting to put expectations on him or Jellybean when they were younger. His mom had told him once, after his dad left the first time, that the importance of free will was just as important as any other choice they can make in their lives.

Wondering if his parents were meant to be but couldn’t make it work, he finishes eating before grabbing his bag and heading out the door. He’s supposed to meet Betty before school, the only time they’ll have that day since Kevin apparently needs her all afternoon for something that doesn’t include “straight boyfriends of Riverdale.” Jughead still doesn’t know what it means but he’s also not all that interested in finding out.

Running into Veronica on his way into the school first thing that morning was not what he wanted to do and he had to bite back the frustrated groan when she made it clear she intended to speak to him.

The impatient sigh he lets out makes her roll her eyes at him but she still stays in his way. “I need to talk to you.”

“You know, I feel like you really don’t.”

“I know you don’t like me-”

“True,” he interrupts, trying to walk past her, almost flinching when she sinks her nails into his arm to keep him from leaving.

“Listen, I need you to talk to Betty for me,” she starts, her face faltering from its haughty expression, “because apparently you have some sort of power over her-”

“That, right there, is your problem, Veronica,” he cuts in, shaking his head at her. “The fact that you seem to think if you’re not controlling her that I must be. Have you ever stopped and thought about how selfish you are? I know you were some reformed mean girl from New York City but truthfully? You’d probably be more genuine if you stopped pretending to be nice.”

“Selfish?”

“Did you ever ask yourself if Betty’s your best friend because you’re compatible and have the important things in common or did you decide she was when you walked in the door? Did she even get a say?”

Glaring at him, she crosses her arms. “It’s not like you can force people to be your friends, Jughead.”

“Can’t you? If they’re nice by default and you come in and then date their best friend, impress their other best friend with your name dropping, like any of that matters in _Riverdale,_ making sure you cemented your place in her life?”

Her face morphs into one of cool indifference and he thinks he might be seeing the real Veronica Lodge for the first time. “So that’s the truth, then? You don’t even care about Betty’s friendships? Just that you have her all to yourself?”

“You are aware that you’ve got it all wrong, right? Betty has the upper hand in our relationship, she’s my soulmate. She’s the one who can destroy me, not the other way around, we won’t know what will happen, if anything, until her birthday, but you keep acting like I’m holding her hostage-”

“Listen-”

“Aren’t you tired of being scared, Veronica?” he asks her wearily. “You’ve managed to keep everyone in their boxes so no one can throw you off but then you act like this when they manage to. I don’t doubt you love Betty but she’s a lot more than your best friend. Kevin is more than the gay best friend you labeled him as, you know. Archie is more than the happy-go-lucky jock you let date you for a year. It’s like you’re so busy labeling your life, you’re not living it.”

She takes in a sharp breath. “Excuse me?”

Running a hand over his face, he just shrugs. “You should give Reggie a shot, you know. He seems to really like you.”

“I don’t need help with my love life, thanks,” she snaps at him before turning on her heels and stomping away from him.

 

* * *

 

**February**

“Mom, this is Jughead,” Betty says, smiling widely as she gestures to Jughead standing nervously next to her.

Alice Cooper stares at Betty’s boyfriend hard before something flashes in her eyes and she relaxes slightly with a tight smile. “Hello, Jughead. It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

Her hand is out, ready to shake Jughead’s and Betty’s holding her breath until he reciprocates, a smile she knows isn’t quite genuine crossing his face.

“Mrs. Cooper, it’s nice to meet you.”

Alice purses her lips as she continues to take him in. “You look -just like your father.”

“Mom!” Betty hisses, holding tight to Jughead’s hand. “We talked about this.”

“I’m just making conversation, Betty,” she says with a syrupy sweet voice. “After all, this boy says he’s your soulmate, correct?”

“You know that he does,” Betty replies tiredly.

“And why should I believe him?” Alice asks coolly, her haughty demeanor coming through clearly.

Jughead clears his throat, fidgeting with his fingers against Betty’s hand. “I know what my dad did, Mrs. Cooper, and I know he regrets it but I’m not going to apologize for something I didn’t do.”

Alice smirks at him. “Finally, a Jones with a spine.” Gesturing to the dining room, she tells Jughead to sit anywhere before telling Betty to help her in the kitchen.

“I can help,” he offers, starting to follow both Cooper women.

“Sit,” Alice demands, pointing to a chair, satisfied when his eyes widen and he takes a step back.

Giving Jughead an apologetic look, she trails after her mom, stopping by the big kitchen island. “What was all that?”

Alice is leaning against the island, staring at nothing. “He really does look just like his father, Elizabeth. I want you to be careful.”

“Mom,” Betty says, placing her hand over her mother’s, giving it a squeeze. “He’s not his father. I’m not you. This is gonna be for forever.”

Nodding, Alice’s eyes are tearing up as they meet Betty’s. “I hope it does, Betty. You deserve forever with someone that loves you.”

  


* * *

 

**March**

_“Were you ever scared?” Betty asks, tangled up in the sheets of their bed._

_“Scared of what?”_

_Laying her head on his chest, he feels her shrug. “Of this.”_

_“What’s that mean? What’s “this?” he asks, amused. “This here with you? This life? This bed? This love? The way it consumes me? This everything?”_

_“Yeah,” she responds quietly._

_“Never.”_

_“Never ever?”_

_“Not ever,” he insists. “It scares you?”_

_“No,” Betty whispers into his skin. “Of all the things that scare me, you’re not one of them.”_

_“Where’s this coming from?”_

_“I talked to Kev-”_

_Jughead sighs, pulling her closer. “Kevin’s fear of commitment isn’t about him being scared to commit, you know.”_

_“What do you think it is, then?”_

_Kissing the top of her head, he rests his cheek on her hair. “It’s him thinking he’s missing something, someone else. That he might be settling for someone and something better is just around the corner.”_

_“So,” she starts, trailing a finger up his side, making him shiver, “are you saying you didn’t settle?”_

_Grabbing her hand and lightly biting down on the offending finger, he smiles as he feels her start to laugh. “I definitely settled.”_

_A gasp of offense hits his ears as she playfully smacks his chest._

_“You’re the worst.”_

_Rolling over and leaning above her, he gazes down at her while rubbing his thumb over the band on her ring finger before he says, “I love you. And I know we did this young but I think the universe knew what it was doing the day I dreamt of you.”_

_“You think?”_

_“I know.”_

He comes awake slowly, smiling about the feelings still permeating his brain from the dream. Feeling the heat of Betty next to him in her bed, something that would make Alice Cooper very upset if she knew it was happening, he turns to his side to pull her closer, trying not to wake her.

Wincing when she starts to move as he settles her against him, he’s holding his breath to see if she falls back asleep when he hears a mumbled, “Jug?”

“Sorry, Betty,” he whispers, pressing a kiss to her temple. “Go back to sleep.”

“Why’re you awake?” she murmurs into her pillow, snuggling further into him.

“Dream,” he tells her, nuzzling his nose into her hair, breathing her in as he starts to fall back asleep.

Betty stretches a little. “Good one?”

“Yeah,” he responds but he thinks she can tell he’s not being totally honest.

“What?”

Sighing, he runs  a hand through his hair before turning  her over so he can see her face through the light of the window. “You’re not scared of this, are you?”

“Scared?” She sounds confused and looks adorably sleep rumpled as she tries to make sense of what he’s saying. “Of what?”

“This? Us? You and me and everything that comes with it?”

“Juggie,” she says, blinking awake, making him smile at the nickname she’s started using more often lately, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he promises. “I just don’t want you to think we’re moving too fast or that you’re settling for me-”

“Settling?” Propping herself up on her elbows, she stares at him, fully awake. “What exactly did you dream about?”

Shutting his eyes he realizes what he’s started. “I think you were worried that maybe I was settling for you, for the life I know we’re going to make. Or maybe I was scared? I’m not really sure anymore.”

Flopping onto her back, she glances at him. “You’re ridiculous. You’re my soulmate-”

“We don’t know that,” he quickly cuts in. “Not yet.”

“Don’t be stupid, Jug, of course you are. I don’t need the world to tell me what I want for myself for forever. It was just competent enough to point you in my direction first. I’d hate to think about having to chase you down if you never moved here.”

“You’d chase me down?” he asks, laughing. “I doubt it would be a chase, more like me seeing you and following you around like an idiot.”

“Good,” she says, grabbing his shirt and pulling him into a kiss.

Falling deeper into her, he breaks the kiss as she’s reaching for the hem of his shirt. “Wait, wait, what about your mom?”

“She’s not invited,” she murmurs, nipping at his earlobe, still trying to tug at the bottom of his shirt. Pushing him back as she gets hold of her goal, dragging it up and over his head, she smiles at him as she throws it to the ground.

Letting her do what she wants, he lays back watching  as she adjusts until she’s straddling his hips. “Do I get to throw your shirt off onto the floor?”

He thinks he can see her smirking at him in the dark of the room as she yanks her shirt over her head, throwing it on top of his.

“Happy?” she asks.

Reaching for her, he spins them around until she’s below him and he’s kissing down her chest to the soft skin of her stomach. “I think I’m about to be.”

 

* * *

 

**April**

“I don’t want to feel like we’re barely friends,” Veronica tells her as she sits next to her at the lunch table Betty’s been sharing with Jughead since it got warm enough to sit outside.

“Me either,” Betty shrugs, going for the apple she had packed that morning. “But I’m not the one avoiding you.”

Veronica wilts. “I know. And I hate it, B. I do. Sometimes I don’t know what I hate more, the fact that Jughead is the most important person in your life or that he was right all along.”

“Jughead’s my soulmate-”

“B-”

“That, right there, is part of the problem. He’s my soulmate because I say he is and you disagree because you think I can’t think for myself.”

“You don’t know yet-”

“It’s not about knowing what the universe wants me to know, Veronica, it’s about me knowing myself. When I look at Jughead, I see it.”

“See what?”

“Everything.”

 

* * *

 

**May**

_They’re standing on a California beach, the cool breeze floating across their skin as she stares up at him, barefoot in the sand in a sundress holding a bouquet of summer wildflowers, smiling as he plays with her left hand. Neither of them can contain the happiness they’re feeling, the freedom of being as far away from Riverdale as they could get, the sun on her skin making her glow as they repeat the words that are binding them to each other._

_“Do you, Forsythe-”_

_“Jughead,” he interrupts, making Betty laugh and the justice of the peace wrinkle his nose at him._

_Clearing his throat, he tries again. “Do you, Jughead, take Elizabeth-”_

_“Betty,” she interjects, smiling at Jughead’s affectionate look._

_They can hear him take a deep breath, his patience probably being tested. “Do you, Jughead, take Betty to be your lawfully wedded wife, to honor and-”_

_“I do,” Jughead says quickly, tightening his grip on her hand. “I definitely do. Do you?”_

_Breaking out into a giggle, Betty nods hurriedly at him. “I do. Totally.”_

_A frustrated sigh makes them both start laughing._

_“Do you have the rings?”_

_Jughead nods, pulling them out of his pocket, almost dropping them in the sand by his feet. He pulls her hand closer to him, sliding the small band up her finger, giving her a wide smile as he puts it in place._

_Giving her the ring for himself, she’s almost crying as she slips it on him, blinking quickly to hold the tears back. A shaky smile once his ring is on is all he needs before he reaches for her, cupping her cheeks and squishing her flowers against him as he kisses her._

_“I apparently pronounce you husband and wife, I’d tell you to kiss the bride but it seems you’ve got that covered,” is what interrupts them, making them both laugh as they wipe at their eyes, him pushing her hair out of her face as it gets stuck in her eyelashes._

_“Thank you,” Jughead says to him, not taking his eyes off Betty._

_No one pays attention to how long they stand there, taking each other in, reveling in the feeling of being married on their own terms, living the lives they choose but anyone who looked at them knew one thing for certain._

_They were happy._

Betty pops up, gasping at the intensity of her dream, knowing what it was and what it meant. She doesn’t think before she runs out of her room, barely stopping to throw a pair of sandals on before she’s out of her house, taking the car keys as she shuts the door behind her and runs towards the car in the driveway.

She can remember every emotion, every feeling that shot through her as she looked at Jughead on that beach, knowing what she wanted and knowing she was going to get it. It was the happiest she thinks she’s ever felt, being able to give him something she wasn’t sure she could.

It was that thought that propelled her as she drove across town, just barely managing to maintain within the driving laws before she was pulling into Sunnyside, throwing the car into park and running up the trailer steps, digging for the spare key Jughead had given her months ago on her keyring.

Trying to be quiet as she sneaks through the trailer, she doesn’t see any sign of FP as she makes her way back towards Jughead’s bedroom. She can’t help it as she throws herself on top of him, making him jolt awake but relaxing as he realizes who it is.

“Betty?” he asks sleepily. “What -is everything okay?”

She’s almost bouncing on top of him as the adrenaline runs through her body, one of his hands resting on her hip as she picks up his left, playing with his fingers as she smiles brightly down at him.

“How do you feel about California?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CAN YOU BELIEVE? 
> 
> I can't really believe anyone actually thought she wasn't gonna dream of him? Have you met me? Have you? I am the most ridiculous of the bunch, I don't do shit just to be contrary. Okay that's a lie but also I like happy endings and I don't see a world where they don't belong together. 
> 
> So, one last chapter then we're done! Woohoo! I don't know what I'll do next tbh, there's a Dawson's Creek AU in the works, or maybe my very, very different take on what I think a jock-Jug fic would be like. I have an idea for a post apocalyptic AU thing. And my fun little can she do a Grease 2 AU idea. Or, hey, if someone has something they're dying to see me mess up, tell me and I can see if I get inspired. Basically what I'm saying is, tell me what you want to see next, friends. 
> 
> But, sigh, I'm gonna get nostalgic if I keep going so let's all think about the time in 7th grade when we were watching The Land Before Time in my history class and I was trying to avoid people knowing I was about to cry like a little girl so I got up, pretending I needed something from the back, only I tripped over a desk leg and fell. 
> 
> No one saw, which, awesome. But then, I stupidly stood up and went, "I fell!" to the whole class. Why? I don't know. 
> 
> But no one knew I was about to cry so I still consider it a win. 
> 
> Anyways, let me express my eternal love for you all for reading and commenting on this fic! It means a lot to me and I'm super grateful to you all. Besos, besos to you all, all day every day! 
> 
> As always, you can [tumble](https://thetaoofbetty.tumblr.com/) with me if you want.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HERE WE ARE AND I'M VERY WEIRDLY EMOTIONAL ABOUT IT SO JUST READ ON, GOBLINS, READ ON.

**May 7th (Morning)**

“California?” Jughead asks her, groggy. “What?”

He can see the blinding smile she gives him as she nods, still almost bouncing on him as he tries to figure out what’s going on. Between her expression, what he assumes is the early hour of the morning based on the wake up call and lack of light he puts it all together fairly quickly for someone currently barely aware of his own name.

“Did you -” he starts, breathlessly, sitting up faster than he should, almost knocking her off of him and onto the floor.

Betty’s eyes are watering as she nods excitedly.

“You did? You really did?” He’s blinking rapidly to keep his own eyes from watering as he grabs at her hands, intertwining their fingers. “Oh my god.”

“I was thinking, you know, if you weren’t busy for the rest of your life, if you might want to spend it with me?” Betty asks in a wavering voice, tightening her grip on his hands.

“What?” Jughead is dumbfounded. Elated but confused, he repeats himself. “What?”

“Maybe not now, maybe later?” Betty is nervously biting on her lips as she stares down at him. “Or you know, on a beach somewhere? In, say, California?”

“Betty-”

“I was thinking on the way over here that we could go to school there? I didn’t have a dream school, not really, and now that I’m eighteen I get access to my trust so we could-”

“Betts-”

“You know, community college is cheaper so we could find jobs and figure stuff out first? We won’t have to worry about how to pay our bills but it might be nice to take some time away from Riverdale, just you and me-”

“Hey-”

“But if you don’t want to, that’s fine, it’s just that the dream I had was on a beach in California and I’ve always wanted to go-”

Pulling his hand free from hers, he puts his palm over her mouth to cut her off. “You dreamt about marrying me on a beach in California?”

Nodding behind his hand, he smiles wide at her confirmation.

“California,” he starts, moving the hand over her mouth until it’s gripping the back of her neck, bringing her forward to kiss her lips before continuing, “sounds like the best idea I’ve heard all year.”

“You think so?”

“I do. I don’t know how we’re gonna get there, Miss I Keep Putting Off Buying A Car, but it’s you and me, right? We’ll figure it out.”

“About that car…” she trails off as he surprises her, spinning her until she’s flat on her back and he’s hovering over her.

“What about it?”

“I think I have a better idea.”

 

* * *

 

1.

“A motorcycle? Across the country?” Veronica asks in disbelief the day after they graduate. “Are you insane?”

Jughead rolls his eyes at her, wrapping an arm around Betty. “It’s what she wanted.”

“And you guys are just going to leave? What about Archie or Kevin? Me?” Veronica turns to Betty with red rimmed eyes.

Betty breaks free of his grip, walking to her and giving her a tight hug. “Distance is an inconvenience at most. We’ll all be okay. We need to live the lives we were meant to live. And you, V, need to go to New York, you know that.”

Veronica starts shaking her head. “No, I can’t, if she-”

“She won’t,” Betty insists. “She’s probably going to be more upset you made her wait than anything else.”

“She’s a viper, B,” Veronica sniffs into Betty’s shoulder.

Betty laughs lightly. “Yeah. She is. That’s why she’s perfect for you.”

“Who are we talking about?” Jughead asks in confusion, looking between Archie’s dawning expression of comprehension and Veronica’s adamant denial.

“Cheryl Blossom,” Betty tells him, smoothing back Veronica’s hair.

“And she’s her-”

Betty nods sharply, stopping the words mid-sentence. “I know she’s waiting for you, Veronica.”

“How can you possibly know?”

“I just do,” Betty says softly. “Now, you’re going to go to NYU with Kevin and Archie is going to Chicago and Jug and I are going to California. But we’re always going to be family no matter where we are.”

Lifting her head and wiping under her eyes, Veronica lifts her chin. “Okay. You’re right. We got this.”

“We got this,” Betty agrees, reaching for Jughead’s hand and squeezing it.

 

* * *

 

2.

“You ready?” he asks two weeks later, waiting for her to come out of the hotel bathroom.

“Almost,” she calls out, and he can hear her moving around as he’s messing with the buttons on his shirt, deciding on how many buttons he should leave undone.

“Ready,” Betty tells him and when he takes her in, he feels like he forgets to breathe.

“You’re beautiful,” he says, picking up the flowers he’d gotten her, a little bouquet of summer wildflowers, and handing them to her.

She’s fighting back tears as she takes them, making him nervous.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, wiping the tear that broke free off her cheek with his thumb.

“Nothing,” she promises. “It’s just, all of this, I knew it was going to happen and now it’s really happening.”

“It is.” Cupping her cheeks and kissing her forehead, he breathes her in for a moment before meeting her eyes. “Let’s do this.”

They’re standing on a California beach, the cool breeze floating across their skin as she stares up at him, barefoot in the sand in a sundress holding a bouquet of summer wildflowers, smiling as he plays with her left hand. Neither of them can contain the happiness they’re feeling, the freedom of being as far away from Riverdale as they could get, the sun on her skin making her glow as they repeat the words that are binding them to each other.

“Do you, Forsythe-”

“Jughead,” he interrupts, making Betty laugh and the justice of the peace wrinkle his nose at him.

Clearing his throat, he tries again. “Do you, Jughead, take Elizabeth-”

“Betty,” she interjects, smiling at Jughead’s affectionate look.

They can hear him take a deep breath, his patience probably being tested. “Do you, Jughead, take Betty to be your lawfully wedded wife, to honor and-”

“I do,” Jughead says quickly, tightening his grip on her hand. “I definitely do. Do you?”

Breaking out into a giggle, Betty nods hurriedly at him. “I do. Totally.”

A frustrated sigh makes them both start laughing.

“Do you have the rings?”

Jughead nods, pulling them out of his pocket, almost dropping them in the sand by his feet. He pulls her hand closer to him, sliding the small band up her finger, giving her a wide smile as he puts it in place.

Giving her the ring for himself, she’s almost crying as she slips it on him, blinking quickly to hold the tears back. A shaky smile once his ring is on is all he needs before he reaches for her, cupping her cheeks and squishing her flowers against him as he kisses her.

“I apparently pronounce you husband and wife, I’d tell you to kiss the bride but it seems you’ve got that covered,” is what interrupts them, making them both laugh as they wipe at their eyes, him pushing her hair out of her face as it gets stuck in her eyelashes.

“Thank you,” Jughead says to him, not taking his eyes off Betty.

No one pays attention to how long they stand there, taking each other in, reveling in the feeling of being married on their own terms, living the lives they choose but anyone who looked at them knew one thing for certain.

They’re happy.

 

* * *

 

 3.

“Put me down!” she laughs, kicking her feet, trying to break out of his grip.

“No,” he says, holding onto her tighter as he adjusts her up higher into his arms. “It’s tradition.”

He can feel her roll her eyes at him, just by the way she huffs and relaxes into him, knowing she won’t win the argument.

“Fine. But I’m going to bring this whole “tradition” thing up when you’re telling me you’re too tired to help me finish unpacking.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jughead agrees absentmindedly, wondering how he’s going to get the door open with Betty in his arms.

“Do you need help?” she asks, amused.

“Very funny,” he starts, but sighs in defeat when he realizes he does need her help. “But yes. Can you reach the handle?”

Twisting the knob, Betty throws open the door to their new apartment and Jughead is still stuck by how real it is. He knew it was real when he saw it and he was immediately transported to the memory of the dream he’d had back in Riverdale, but this, having it happen? It still felt surreal.

After squeezing through the doorway, he sets her down and looks at the mountain of boxes in front of them. Sighing loudly, he turns to her.

“I’ll take the living room.”

“Can you make sure the shower head works first? The landlord said something about it being sticky,” Betty asks, making him smile widely. “What?”

“Nothing,” he says innocently, making his way to the bathroom to look at the shower.

When he leaves it facing the wrong way on purpose, he can’t help the laugh that bursts out later on when he hears her yelling.

“Jughead!”

He almost sprints to the bathroom in anticipation.

 

* * *

 

4.

She laughs as he spins her around their living room as long past popular songs play from the radio speakers in the dimly lit room, her sundress twirling around her knees. Her bare feet barely miss being stepped on by his boots as he laughs along with her.

Her smile bright, hair fanning out with each spin, he pulls her into him and holds her close, kissing her cheek as she giggles into his shoulder.  

“You’re going to be late,” she whispers to him as the song ends, a slower one starting to play next.

“Worth it,” he tells her as he runs a hand over her hair. A finger under her chin tilts her face up so he can press a kiss to her lips. In that moment, he’s convinced that no one has ever loved anyone the way he loves her, a thumb across the gold band on her ring finger reminding him that she’s really his.

“I love you,” she says, reaching up on her toes and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“I love you too,” he tells her, catching her lips with his one last time before letting her go to grab his jacket, helmet, and sling his messenger bag over his shoulder.

“Good luck!” she calls, clapping her hands together, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “You’ll do great, I just know it!”

Closing the door behind him, he steadies himself, closing his eyes before making his way to the motorcycle they bought together in Riverdale.

 _I can do this,_ he thinks, swinging his leg over the bike and starting it up, making sure his helmet and bag are secure. _I can totally do this._

Praying he doesn’t crash the entire way, he thinks of hundreds of scenarios that doom him to failure, the idea of seeing Betty’s face fall in disappointment making the churning in his stomach even worse as he finds parking downtown. The craziness of it something he’s still not used to as he cuts is way through a building bigger than any he’s ever been in before.

The wait in an office space with nicer furniture than anything he grew up gives him the urge to bite his nails, a habit he never knew he thought about until just then, staring at the clock until the door opened right at his meeting time.

“Forsythe?” a woman with a file in her hand calls, smiling at him as she gestures behind herself.

Giving her a quick smile, he bites back the nausea and follows her into the room, sitting in the chair she’d pointed to as she takes her seat behind her desk.

“Well, Forsythe, I have to tell you,” she starts, tapping the pile of papers in front of her, “I _loved_ your book.”

 

* * *

 

5.

“I know what you need,” he murmurs into the skin of her back as he kisses his way up Betty’s spine, softly biting along the edge of her vertebrae as he stretches himself over her.  

“Do you?” she whimpers, her fingers tangling themselves in the sheets of their bed.

“We both know that I do.” Pushing a hand through her hair, he grips it tight, her head tilting back with the pressure, her low moan falling out of her mouth before she can stop it.

“Yes,” she sighs out, her back trying to arch but stopped by the pressure of him letting his weight fall onto her.

“Yes what?”

“Pull it, Jug.”

Tugging on her hair until she shivers, he leans up to her ear, running his tongue along the edge of it. Twisting the hand holding a fistful of her hair, she gasps, her legs kicking up as she grabs harder at the sheets.

“Stay still,” he warns lowly, spreading himself out over her back, pushing her shoulders further into the bed.

“Or what?” she challenges.

A sharp slap to the outside of her thigh has her twisting  to the side, something almost like a purr falling from her lips as she turns her to head to the side to gaze at him.

“You like that?”

Biting her lip, she nods at him.

“Let me hear you.”

“Yes,” she whispers, eyes wide in the low light of their bedroom.

“You want it again?”

She nods at him, staring at him anxiously until he gives the top of her thigh a smack with the flat of his palm. Burying her head into the pillow, she muffles the loud moans that she can’t keep in as he rubs his hands across her legs and ass as he intermittently breaks the quiet of the room with the loud slaps he makes along her skin.

Pushing his face into the back of her hair, he grinds his hips into the flesh of her backside as he murmurs, “I thought you were gonna be good.”

Her breath catches as he works his hands down to her hips, pushing her knees open with his own.

“I am.”

“I don’t think so,” he says, settling back onto his knees as he pulls her hips up, sliding into her easily as she bites onto her hand to keep herself quiet.

“I think,” he tells her, slipping out most of the way, before slamming back into her, “you just wanted me to think you were gonna behave.”

Her breathing is beginning to increase when she takes a deep breath and grabs at the headboard. “I am. -I can. I -I promise.”

“Liar,” he whispers, his thighs hitting against the backs of hers with each thrust.

Pulling out and flipping her over before she can get a single whine out, he’s moving his hands up her body until his fingers are gripping around her wrists, pinning her hands to the mattress as he slips back into her, the feeling of her warm breath hitting him on his shoulder as he buries his head into the soft skin of her neck.

“Fuck, my girl is so good for me, isn’t she?” he whispers into her ear as her legs tighten around his hips.

“Mmm,” is all he gets in reply and it makes him smile.

Slowing down, he hears her whimper as he pulls away from her slightly. “I asked you a question.”

The heavy blinking of her eyes tells him she’s barely coherent as she tries to concentrate while slowly pushing his hips into hers. Letting go of her hands he moves to sit up, taking her with him, settling her on his thighs and running his hand up her spine and into the back of her hair, tugging on it as she comes back to herself.

“Yes,” she groans out, her hips rolling as she wraps her arms around him.

“Yes what?”

“I’m good for you,” she murmurs, legs tightening on the outside of his. “Jug, please-”

“Please what?”

“I want to come,” Betty whimpers, her head falling back as she tries to wiggle her hips around to get more friction.

“What do I need from you for that, then?”

Her need is almost a palpable thing in the room with them and he can feel the shiver his words send through her body.

Eyes open and staring at him she tell him in a low voice, “I can be good.”

Leaning back to assess her face, he pulls on her hair, her head going back with the motion as a moan escapes her mouth. “I’m not sure you can.”

Shaking her head as her fingers dig into his shoulder blades she brings herself closer to him, “I can be. I can be so good.”

“We’ll see.”

Slipping his hand from her hair, he brings it between their bodies as he’s reverently watching her bounce herself on his lap before the first soft touch on her clit has her gasping, the feeling of her involuntary clench around him sending jolts of heat through his abdomen.

His free hand is on the back of her neck, holding her still for a beat as he works her to her edge before trying to reach his own, focusing on her as his pace starts to stutter, bringing them both over as he bites down on her shoulder to contain the loud groan that’s trying to escape his mouth.

Breathing heavily into her back, he soothes the bite with his tongue, running his hands reverently across her as he whispers how beautiful she is, how good she is, how wonderful she is for him, how she’s everything he’s ever wanted. Her boneless body leans into him as he wraps his arms around her; telling her how much he loves her relaxes him just as much as the orgasm he just had. Laying them down on the bed, he holds her close, drifting off with the feel of her against him keeping him centered.

 

* * *

 

6.

“I got a copy of your book,” she tells him, holding it up with a wide smile. “The one they said they were sending over.”

“Did you?”

“I did.”

“Did you open it?”

She walks over to him, book in hand before throwing her arms around his neck, yanking him down to her so she can kiss him, his hands landing on her back and pulling her into him before she leans back, smacking his shoulder lightly with the book.

“You could have warned me you were going to do that,” she scolds playfully. “I think you should read it to me for the full effect.”

“I have it memorized, how about I just whisper it to you as I slip my hands up this amazing skirt you have on?”

“You think that’s going to work?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Pursing her lips at him, she scrunches her nose at him before shaking her head. “No, I want to hear you read it.”

Sighing, he kisses her forehead before reaching for the book she’s handing him. “Fine.”

Opening the book, he notices her makeshift bookmark falling out. Grabbing it without thinking he glances at it once. Then twice.

Three times.

Four times.

Five times.

He feels like he can’t breathe, his eyes are already watering and he thinks his face is going to hurt from smiling and it’s been less than ten seconds.

“Really?”

Betty’s hands are on her cheeks, smiling and nodding as she tries to fight her own tears.

“Oh my god,” he breathes out, reaching for her, the book dropping to the ground, landing open to the dedication page as he picks her up and spins her around the room. “Oh my god.”

“Are you happy?”

“I’m the happiest person in the world right now,” he tells her, burying his head into her neck, giving her a squeeze before thinking better of it and putting her down, checking her over. “Are you okay?”

“Jughead,” she exclaims, rolling her eyes at him, “I’m pregnant, not fragile.”

“Yeah you are,” he says smugly. “I did that. That’s awesome.”

“Are you going to act like this for the next nine months?”

Jughead winks at her, pulling her back into his arms. “Oh yeah.”

“We can’t tell anyone for a few weeks, though, it’s still early.”

“They can wait,” he tells her seriously. “The idea of being descended on by the Blossom-Lodge’s is already giving me hives. I can’t wait to tell Jellybean, though.”

“Archie might give you another speech-”

“Ahh, because the one after our elopement was so terrifying,” he interrupts sarcastically.

Betty laughs. “I think Valerie has mellowed him out some, so it should be less threatening this time.”

“Hey,” he says suddenly, cupping her cheeks in his hands. “We’re gonna be parents.”

“We are,” she agrees. “It’s gonna be great.”

 

* * *

 

7.

_For Elizabeth_

_Finding you was the best surprise of my life. Loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done. Marrying you was the happiest I’ve ever been. Living my life with you is the luckiest I’ll ever be. The truth is I don’t deserve any of it but I’m going to make sure you know how much I want to be worthy of it for the rest of our lives._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE DID IT, OH MY GOD, LOOK AT US! 
> 
> Can you even believe we did this? All of us? Wow. I wrote it, Indiebughead, Jandjsalmon, and SunlitGarden helped me fix it and made sure it made sense and you guys read it. Like, best team ever. 
> 
> Ever. 
> 
> So, yeah. I'm feeling weirdly feelsy over this ending right now so, uh, imma go work on something else for a hot minute to make sure I'm still a brick wall of emotions. But, I hope you enjoyed it! I do, I really, really do. I hope you had fun reading it and I hope you'll tell me how you felt about it and I hope to see you on my next fic. 
> 
> Besos and love to you all, always. ALWAYS. Besos, all the goddamn besos, okay? Okay. 
> 
> As always, you can [tumble](https://thetaoofbetty.tumblr.com/) with me if you want.


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